


Bring Me Back to Life

by POTFFAN



Category: Narcos (TV)
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Injury, Major Character Injury, connie is amazing, injured javier, javier whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:25:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 38,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23370130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/POTFFAN/pseuds/POTFFAN
Summary: "Going into the commune without Colombian back-up was dangerous, but that's how bad we wanted to catch these guys."Just a brief alternate universe story in which the child chooses to pull the trigger on Javier in S1: E7.
Relationships: Connie Murphy/Steve Murphy (Narcos), Javier Peña & Steve Murphy
Comments: 42
Kudos: 82





	1. Charlie Foxtrot

**Author's Note:**

> Hello lovely readers! First off I really hope you enjoy this little drabble fic I decided to work on while I was getting through some writer's block. Secondly, I would like to thank my beautiful beautiful co-author, itsagoodthing, for all her amazing work on this fic too. If you haven't already checked her stories out please do! 
> 
> Note: Spanish is not my first language. Translation apps are only so good.

For one horrible moment, Javier found himself aiming a gun at a child. He never thought his job would come to this. He’d done some questionable deeds since the beginning of this war, but as he stared down his gun barrel and the child was pointing a gun back at him and threatening to shoot, he realized he didn’t want to stoop to the level of his enemies. The hitman was long gone. It wasn’t worth spilling any more blood over.

“No te voy a matar. Baja tu arma.”

Slowly, so as not to alarm the boy, Javier set his pistol on the ground and raised his hands to show he was no longer armed and that there was no longer any threat.

“Baja el arma hijo. No más violencia,” Javier urged gently.

“Jódete, cerdo,” the kid spat before he pulled the trigger

Javier felt a burst of pain in the lower left quadrant of his stomach. It was centered at first but then seemed to radiate throughout his lower torso. Looking down he saw the deep red stain slowly spreading over his orange button-up. His brain hadn’t quite made it click that he was standing in the center of the commune, gutshot with no back-up. His body went into autopilot, pressing a hand against the spreading red on his shirt, he winced as he glanced around. Both his quarry and the kid had vanished deep into the maze of shabby buildings.

Fuck. They had needed a victory today. Looking around, his mind brought up a blueprint of the area, visualizing the rooftops around him and plotting a short cut through the commune.

Maybe they still had a chance.

Pushing himself back into action, he took one step and his plan crumbled as he grunted in pain and fell against the side of a dirty building. Looking down at his side, Javier took in the blood spreading past the wound and soaking into his jeans. This was most definitely not good. His other hand moved to his abdomen, desperately trying to keep his blood on the inside of his body. The pain was rapidly growing intense, stealing his breath away and making it difficult to think. Steve. Steve was somewhere. He had to find him. He tried to take another step and the pain flared up as a warning, tearing a harsh groan from his lips as the initial disorientating shock of getting shot waned.

_Gutshot. Bleeding out. Exposed. No back-up._

Words and phrases were pinging around in his brain so fast he couldn’t make sense of them. He tried to take a deep breath to calm his nerves but that only brought the pain back with a vengeance. His eyes clenched shut as his vision started doing cartwheels. One word flashed through his mind in warning.

_Hide._

He knew he had to hide somewhere. If someone knew there was a wounded DEA agent he’d be swarmed in a heartbeat. Perhaps Escobar would send more in to finish the job. He was a sitting duck out in the open. Gritting his teeth, he pressed both hands to the bullet wound and started to limp. His vision narrowed in on his destination: a shabby low-sitting carport with a faded, rusty green tin roof attached to a mold-stained building. A pitiful shelter at best, but it beat hanging out in the open. Every step was agony. Some imaginary hand was driving a dagger into his stomach and twisting viciously. It stole his breath and he hoped the coughing was due to him choking on the pain and not his own blood he tasted in the back of his mouth.

He neared the street and stumbled, slumping against the building again and doubled over. Panting, sweat dripped from his hair as he trapped the strangled scream pushing against his mind. It would be unwise to let alert the entire neighborhood of his situation. All he had to do was pull up the mental image of what happened to Kiki as motivation to swallow the pain and get back to his feet. The journey to the carport seemed to get longer and longer.

_Have to hide. Have to make it._

He doubled down on his determination and practically dragged his injured body the rest of the way. There were some crates and piles of dusty, forgotten garbage lying in the back corner. He dropped to the ground and tucked himself against the piles. Arching back against the pain, Javier allowed himself a silent gasp. Cringing, he held his side and wheezed through shuddering breaths. That small trip from point A to B had left him exhausted and winded. Looking out of the carport, he saw a trail of glittering red blood leading from the point of impact all the way to his hiding place.

_Shit._

He squeezed his eyes shut as he could feel the blood slipping through his fingers and pooling in his lap.

********

Steve had heard the shot and it distracted him just long enough for Poison to get away. Lowering his gun, he swore under his breath. He was going to _kill_ Javier.

Of course, that jackass would mess him up by bagging his own Sicario. He’d had Poison right in front of him and once again the man got lucky and slipped through his fingers. He shouted a few obscenities into the wind before climbing off the roof. Jumping to the ground, Steve stood there and looked around. He wasn’t quite sure where to go. They had taken off so quickly there hadn’t been time to make an action plan for afterward.

“Peña!” Steve hissed softly, trying not to draw attention to himself as he strolled through the commune. While his partner blended in with the locals, he stuck out like a sore thumb with his sandy hair and light skin. “Peña where the fuck are you!?” He snapped, growing more irritated. This whole thing had been a complete failure. He came upon a clearing and froze.

There was blood on the ground, but no Peña waiting and grinning smugly from behind his signature aviators. Something wasn’t right. His stomach clenched and he looked around quickly before running to the bloodstained ground.

Kneeling, he touched the spot and his hand came back red. It was still wet—recent and fresh. He looked around again. Where was the body?

There was no body. That had to be a good sign, right? Surveying the area around him for any clue, he spotted a trail in the dust leading to a broken-down carport. He pulled his gun from his belt. Holding it in both hands, he felt his muscles coil and tighten, ready to aim and fire if he had to. Crossing the street, he reminded himself that it could be anyone at the end of that trail. He prayed it wasn’t his partner.

“Peña, you in there?” Steve queried softly as he paused. There was no answer and he pressed forward again, traversing further inside. The hair on the back of his neck stood up as the tension grew. He half expected to be cut down with a spray of bullets from a desperate and wounded hitman any second now.

He rounded the pile of trash and a familiar set of legs made all his apprehension fly out the window, replaced with a sickening drop in his stomach. Rushing into the pile of discarded cardboard boxes, Steve found his partner huddled beside a pile of busted orange crates.

“Peña, shit!” Steve breathed, throwing boxes and crates out of his way as he reached for Javier. His skin was far too pale and sweat was rolling down his face. Steve gulped and his breath became thin and fast at how Javier looked. He looked dead. His eyes were closed, and his chest hardly moved with shallow breaths. A string of curses left Steve’s mouth as he scooted closer beside his partner.

“Peña. Peña!” He called softly. There was no response from the prone man and Steve put two trembling fingers against the agent’s neck. To his relief, he found a weak and rapid pulse.

“Peña!” he called a little louder. Worry cut sharply into his tone but that seemed to rouse Javier from unconsciousness. His head rolled to face him, and his eyes fluttered open to reveal glazed over irises. The stress of the situation made Steve want to vomit. His partner was very much resembling the countless bodies they’d dealt with over the last few weeks.

Face crumpling, Javier panted, “S-Steve?” Javi spoke his name in a trembling voice. First name basis; not a good sign.

“Hey, Javi. It’s alright, where are you hurt?” Steve asked quietly, desperately trying to keep his voice down as he assessed the downed agent. Pushing away another box, he found the source in about two seconds if Javi holding his side against a rapidly growing stain on his polo was anything to go by.

“Shit, Javi, shit,” Steve muttered, looking at the pool of blood in Javier’s lap. Wincing, he gently pulled the agent’s red-stained hand away from his abdomen to get a look at the wound. Javier groaned softly, which turned into a strangled cry as Steve pressed firmly on the bullet hole, attempting to stanch what little blood flow there was.

“Shhhhhhh,” Steve soothed in warning. “You’ve got to stay quiet Javi. They can’t know you’re injured,” Steve explained in a low voice. “As soon as I get you back to the Jeep you can scream all you want.”

“Not going to make it to the Jeep,” Javier huffed out in a weak shaky voice. His eyes were closed again.

“Hey! Javier!” Steve growled as he patted the agent’s clammy face, gently trying to wake him up again. He didn’t like how cold his skin felt. “Eyes open, Javier!”

Javi heard the urgency in his partner’s voice and tried to force his eyes open. They had an unspoken code system in how they addressed each other. They never talked about it, but it had settled into place all the same. He had learned that coming from Steve, Javi was endearment. Peña was professional. But the only time Steve called him Javier was when some serious shit was going down. Needing to figure out what had his partner upset, Javi finally forced his eyes open. He found Steve inches from his face. He was stone serious, and afraid, his blue eyes were filled with concern and a tinge of panic.

Javi blinked up at Steve. Short of breath, he panted weakly and tried to ask him if he was okay. He couldn’t get the words to form and Steve shook his head, “Hey. You stay awake until I get you some help, understand? I’m not leaving you behind, asshole.”

A small huff of air escaped past Javier’s lips in the form of a week chuckle and Steve felt his nerves settle a bit. If Javier still had the energy to be a smug son of a bitch, then he wasn’t dying just yet—despite the dangerous amount of blood he’d already lost.

“C’mon, man. Let’s get you out of here. Alright? Let’s try standing first,” Steve coaxed as he carefully helped Javier to his feet all while keeping a hand pressed firmly against the wound. Javier grasped his shoulder and squeeze for all he was worth as he tried to keep from screaming out. Blood was trickling from his lip and Steve hoped with all his might that he’d just bitten his lip to avoid making any noise. The pair took two steps before Javier’s wobbly legs gave out and they almost went down.

“It’s alright, Javi. I’ve got you,” Steve reassured against Javier’s pained groan as he stumbled a few steps but kept them from falling. They took a few more steps and Javier started to drop. The arm around his shoulder slipped and Steve hauled him back against his side, saying, “Here. I’m going to have to carry you out. We’ll never make it out of here otherwise.”

Without another word, Steve scooped the injured man up in his arms and started to run. _Fuck_ Steve thought, he had scooped Javi up like a baby and the guy didn’t even try to protest. This was bad. This was so fucking bad.

 _Shit, the baby_ , Steve thought to himself as he juggled Javier’s weight in his arms and got a better hold. They’d left her in the house alone without any defense against the dark evil that was crawling through the streets. He had to get her before they left. He could do that. He could get Javi settled in the Jeep and then go back in for the baby. The Jeep was right by the house. It would take an extra minute, tops. He could do this. He could save them both. He’d have to because any other outcome wasn’t an option for him. 

As he jogged through the streets, he kept thinking how immensely thankful he was that Javier was in much better shape than his last partner and at least foot shorter. He could hear Javier’s desperate rattling gasps for breath and felt a warm liquid oozing down the front of his shirt.

“Keep pressure on that wound, Javier,” he said but he knew it would be useless. Judging by how limp and heavy the agent was in his arms, Steve doubted he had the strength to keep his blood from gushing, draining the life right out of him.

Steve wanted to cry for joy when he saw the gleaming blue Jeep parked by the rundown house. No one had thought to mess with it. Gently, he settled Javier so that he was laying down across the back seat before ripping off his button-up and bunching it up.

“Here, keep your hands here Javier,” Steve said firmly as he pressed the bunched-up shirt against the weeping wound. He grabbed Javi’s clammy, trembling hands over it and pressed down. His partner pressed his head back against the door where he was slumped and groaned.

“I know, man. I know.” Steve soothed. God bless Javier Peña’s soul, he thought as the injured man tried to put as much pressure on the wound as possible.

Ducking out of the backseat, Steve moved Javi’s legs out of the way and shut the door. Turning, he sprinted for the house, rushing inside past the bodies of Escobar’s latest victims to find the baby girl still sitting in her highchair. He exhaled hard in relief when he saw she was okay and blissfully unaware of the death and evil that surrounded her. Steve cooed gently to the baby, trying not to scare her as he gently lifted her out of the highchair and held her close.

“Come on,” he said softly to her and he jogged towards the door. “We’re going on a little car ride.”

Steve made it out to the jeep once more and cast a glance to his partner who was lying on the seat trying desperately to pull in oxygen. He could tell the man was already in shock as he jumped in the front seat with the baby in his lap and slammed the door shut. He started the ignition and the car sputtered to life. “Hang on, Javi!” Steve shouted to the back seat as he threw the Jeep into gear and tore out of the commune. Once he felt like he was a safe enough distance away, he balanced the steering wheel between his knees and grabbed the radio that had been left in one of the cup holders.

“This is agent Murphy I need back-up immediately. I repeat I need back-up. Peña’s down and I have a baby on board.” Steve never thought that in a million years that tacky slogan plastered on that awful yellow bumper sticker would leave his lips.

The radio hissed in static and then Carillo’s voice came over the air, “What’s your 10-20, Murphy?”

“Just outside of Campo Valdés

“Okay, head to the soccer field on the west side of town. You should be close.”

“Yeah. I know it. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“They’re firing up the chopper how. We’ll see you in under ten minutes.”

“Copy that, Carillo. Over and out,” Steve said before putting the radio back in the cup holder and flooring the gas pedal. He hit a bump which provoked a pained cry from the back seat.

“Sorry, man. Hang tight, Javi! Almost there.” Steve called from the front seat. Javi barely caught every other word as he bounced around in the back seat like a sack of potatoes. Every bump sent a sharp, agonizing pain through his stomach and he couldn’t stop the pained noises that bubbled up from his throat.

He wasn’t going to make it this time. He wasn’t being dramatic. He just knew. He’d survived many a scrap and scrape in his career but this time they’d gotten him. He knew the signs of shock; knew he had already slipped past the warning stages. Javi knew once you went into shock you had very little time to get stabilized before organs started shutting down.

He tried to press Steve’s ruined shirt closer to his side, but he had no strength anymore. He had no more blood left in him. He felt hollow and empty and cold. He couldn’t get enough air and he didn’t have the strength to fight harder for it. Steve was telling him to stay awake and he really wanted to. He didn’t want to let his partner down again, but he was just so tired. It was getting too difficult to stay awake.

 _Just for a minute_ , he thought as he let his eyes slip shut as he tried with all his might to pull in a breath.

Steve’s jammed down on the breaks and, releasing the wheel, threw an arm behind him, keeping Javi from being thrown forward as he brought the jeep to a screeching stop. He looked around at the field Carillo said the helicopter would come.

They weren’t there yet, and Steve’s lips pressed together at the disappointment. He knew it would be a long shot. It would take them time to scramble the helicopter and get the crew on board. He set the little girl down on the seat beside him before climbing out and racing to the back seat where he found Javier lying motionless with his eyes closes and his bloodied hand hanging off the edge of the seat.

“No, no, no, no… Peña wake up!” he called as he eased the agent out of the car and laid him out on the grass beside the car. “Javier!” he shouted again, pulling him against himself before he clamped down on the wound with the blood-soaked shirt.

The pressure elicited a pained scream to tear from Javier’s lips as his back arched. Steve could feel him spasming and writhing in his arms.

“I said stay awake, Agent. Help’s coming,” Steve said in an authoritative tone. He was scared shitless as he was witnessing Javier bleeding out before his eyes.

“Sorry,” Javier stuttered in a voice that was barely beyond a whisper and arched back against him.

“Hey, now don’t go apologizing. Wouldn’t want anyone to know you’re anything other than a massive dick,” Steve joked weakly. Javier’s eyes were dull and almost lifeless. There was no joking anymore.

Javier wanted to reply. He really did. Maybe say kickass last words or really just let Steve know what a fine agent he was. It had been an honor to work with him. He wanted Steve to know that, but he could barely breathe let alone force any words. All he could manage was another weak moan as he squeezed his partner’s hand weakly.

Steve perked up as he heard the sound of chopper blades slicing through the air. Looking up, he saw a black helicopter with the word Policía plastered on the side steadily flying towards them.

“Look at that Javi. Help’s here now.” When he didn’t receive any sort of response, he turned to see Javier was lying limply in his arms with his eyes closed once more.

“Javi? Javi! Javier!” Steve cried desperately as the helicopter grew closer.

Translations:

  * No te voy a matar. -I’m not going to kill you.
  * Baja tu arma. -Put down your gun.
  * Baja el arma hijo. -Put down the gun, son.
  * No más violencia. -No more violence.
  * Jódete, cerdo. -Fuck you, pig.




	2. Pink Mist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The flight back to the hospital is chaotic and dangerous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers! I'm so completely overwhelmed by how much love this fic has received so far. Here's another chapter to help get you through whatever quarantine struggles your getting through. Again, special thanks to my amazing co-creator itsagoodthing. She basically wrote this chapter yall. Lots of love to all you wonderful readers!

Javier jerked awake as he felt a searing pain in his abdomen. Hands held him down as his back arched and he cried out once more in horrible agony. Something was being pressed against his face and he shook his head. Adrenalin was kicking in, triggering his fight or flight response. 

_Fight_.

Javier tried to lash out, but he had no control over his numb and weak limbs. Voices were calling to him, telling him to stay down but Javier was not about to go out like a little bitch. His mind was foggy and disoriented, but he managed to pick up on the sound of Steve’s voice. He seemed close. He could hear him amongst the noise of all the yelling. Whoever was trying to pin him down must have captured Steve too. He had to get to him; he couldn’t let him down again.

“Murphy! Do something or he’s going to rip the damn IV out!” He heard Carrillo shout. 

Somebody grabbed him. Javier tried to push them away, but he had no strength. He was drawn in and held. There were hands on either side of his face now, and he tried to jerk away from whoever the fuck thought they could touch him. “Hey, hey, easy, partner.” A familiar voice speaking in a low, calming voice. When the hands came back, he didn’t pull away. 

“Hey, Peña, eyes on me now,” Steve spoke firmly. He sounded serious. He sounded like Javier needed to pull it together and open his eyes and find out what the hell kind of mess they’d gotten themselves into. He managed to force his eyes open. Blinking, he struggled to focus on his partner’s face despite his blurry vision. 

Steve’s hand patted the side of his face, telling him, “You’re safe now. You’ve got to stay still and let the medics do their job alright?”

Steve wasn’t expecting any sort of response but to his surprise, his partner managed a weak nod. Steve gently laid Peña back down. His partner stared at him with this far-off look as he adjusted the blanket under his head, and Steve nodded at him while the medic secured an oxygen mask around his face. 

Javier pulled in a couple of breaths and Steve found a little comfort when he saw that his labored breathing had eased slightly from the oxygen and an emergency blood transfusion. He decisively stayed out of the medic’s way but was determined to stay within Javier’s line of sight. He couldn’t do anything to help his condition, but he could be there where he could see him, and ground him. 

Javier’s vision cleared a little now that he was no longer starving for oxygen and he noticed the blood on Steve’s shirt. He could feel his pulse pounding at the thought of Steve being shot too. 

“Steve,” he choked out in a raspy voice. His partner moved in closer, and he tried to explain, saying, “Shot.” Steve looked visibly confused and Javier managed to gesture to the blood. 

Steve looked down and then patted his shoulder reassuringly. “Not mine. I’m ok. But you, my friend, are going to owe me a dry-cleaning bill for this shirt. Connie’s going to be pissed.” Steve saw the merest ghost of a smile on his partner’s face through the oxygen mask. 

The humorous respite was about to be short-lived as the medic looked up at Steve with a severe look and said, “I’m going to have to pack this wound until we get to the hospital, so he doesn’t bleed out. That blood we’re pumping into him isn’t going to do much otherwise.” Steve nodded and scooted closer to his partner and grabbed his hand. 

“Hey, Javi. Focus on me alright? It’s going to hurt like a mother fucker for a second. Just focus on me,” Steve reassured before the medic started to pack clean white gauze into the wound. Javier’s reaction was immediate as he cried out harshly and Steve winced as his hand was crushed in a shaking grip. He pressed Javier’s shoulders down and Carrillo pinned his legs down. The medic, unfazed by the commotion, continued to pack gauze into the wound. 

“It’s alright Javi. It’s alright! Just breathe, Javi,” Steve coaxed. He could tell Javier’s strength was waning quickly and yet there was still enough left for him to cry out and cling to his partner with all his might. Steve wanted to kick himself. They’d gone into that _commune_ without backup. They should have stayed together. He should have found Javi quicker. Those precious seconds in which Javier had been huddled up amongst garbage bleeding out might end up costing him his life. 

The medic finished and Javier had gone limp. His breathing was shallow and difficult, and his heartbeat was weak. He was slipping away. 

“Javier, look at me. Hey, c’mon, partner. Open your damn eyes!” Steve called and to his relief, Javier’s eyes opened slightly. “You’ve got to stay awake. It’s over. Just hang in there for me.” 

Javier let out a wheezing half chuckle and tried to say something that sounded like, “I’m sorry.” Steve knew he was probably apologizing and felt guilty for losing his suspect. Javier didn’t like to fail.

“Hey. No talking. Just stay awake until we get to the hospital alright?” 

Javier offered another weak nod, but Steve could tell the effort was almost too much for the injured agent. He was getting weaker. He was losing the fight to keep his eyes open. They started to close and his head lolled to the side. The grip on Steve’s hand was slacking off. 

“Javi? Hey, Javier!” Steve called as he shook the agent’s shoulder. He looked to the medic helplessly who checked the injured man’s pulse. 

“It’s weak, thready, not good,” the medic replied. 

“Ok well, maybe don’t go shouting it. That’s not helping,” Steve retorted. Javier didn’t need that kind of negativity. 

“S-Steve,” Javier gasped. Steve looked at his partner and knew something was wrong. 

“Javier?” The shaking hand gripped his tightly once more before it went limp. Javier’s eyes closed and the medic jumped up suddenly. 

“His heart stopped!” 

“Javi! Javier! Don’t you fucking dare! Do not do this to me, Peña!” 

Steve didn’t think, he just started compressions. Remembering his training from his days as a lifeguard when he was a teenager, that fucking Bee Gees song was still ingrained in his head, and he pumped Javi’s chest in time with the beat of the song. The medic was calling to the pilot in Spanish, but Steve ignored it. He kept pumping down on Javier’s chest until he reached thirty compressions and then watched the medic give two rescue breaths before checking for a pulse. He shook his head at Steve. 

“Come on Javier. Come on!” Steve cried as he started compressions again. Another medic knelt on the other side of Javier’s still body. 

“We’ll be at the hospital in five maybe six minutes. Let me take over,” the medic said, pulling on his arm.

“Back the fuck off!” Steve nearly screamed as he continued compressions. He knew Javier didn’t have that kind of time. Once again, he reached thirty compressions and waited for the medic as he gave two rescue breaths. 

Javier sucked in a shallow breath and Steve sighed in relief. “Thank you, brother. Thank you,” he murmured to his partner. His fingers slipped to Javier’s wrist and found the weak pulse, but it was there, and he was going to will it to stay until they arrived at the hospital. 

********

Within five minutes, they arrived at the hospital and thankfully Javier’s pulse had held steady. However, he did not regain unconsciousness. Coming in on their approach, Steve looked out the open side of the helicopter saw a trauma team waiting for them on the helipad. As soon as they touched down, the team rushed in, bending low to avoid the rotating blades and worked quickly to transfer Javier from the floor of the chopper to the gurney. Then they took off, rushing him into the hospital. Steve jumped out and scrambled after them. He wasn’t going to let Javier out of his sight this time. He felt a doctor trying to ease him away from the gurney, but his grip tightened. 

“NO! I’m not leaving him.” Steve’s voice was stern and authoritative. He was not one to panic but these Narcos had proven to be ruthless. They had eyes and ears everywhere. Their group burst into the hospital in a bustle of commotion, voices calling out stats and orders as they wheeled the gurney down the hall. Steve suspected they had been alerted about Javier’s frail condition and were headed straight to the OR. 

The doctors were shouting and chattering over Javier as a doctor cut open his shirt. Steve winced at the sight of the bullet wound that had turned the gauze packed inside a deep red. It was surrounded by bruising and Steve hadn’t even thought to consider any internal damage. The doctor tried to pull him away again, speaking to him sternly in Spanish. 

“No hablo Español! I’m not going to leave him!” Steve shouted. He didn’t trust anyone. He couldn’t trust anyone here. Any of these doctors could be working for Escobar, waiting to finish Javier off the second he was out of his sight. Steve wasn’t about to let that happen. The doctor’s voices were growing concerned and Steve wished he knew even a little bit of Spanish. 

“It’s alright, Agent Murphy.” Steve turned and saw the medic who’d been in the helicopter with them. One of Carrillo’s men. “We have police posted outside and these doctors can be trusted. You have to let him go,” the medic reassured. 

“But-” Steve was cut off as the doctors started shouting and there was a flurry of activity. The medic took charge and wrenched Steve’s hand from the gurney so the doctors could whisk it away. 

“What’s going on!” Steve demanded from the medic. 

“His heart stopped again. You have to let them take care of him now or he’ll die,” the medic explained as Steve glanced at the double doors where the doctors had taken his partner through. He had no way of knowing what was going on or if Javier was even alive. He let out a frustrated growl and slumped into a chair. The medic sat beside him. 

“Your wife has been alerted to the situation and is being escorted here. Carrillo has the baby for now but plans to hand her off to her once she arrives.” Steve nodded as he dragged his hands tiredly over his face. 

“Thank you. I appreciate it,” he replied. The medic touched his shoulder before leaving and Steve crossed his arms, preparing himself for the long wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! As always, rate and review!


	3. Science is Golden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Steve waits for his wounded partner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers! It's so nice to see you're enjoying this fic! I am overwhelmed at how much love it's gotten so far! Again, this would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of my amazing co-author, itsagoodthing. Be sure to check out her work if you need more incredible fic (including more Narcos) to read! Anyways, enjoy! This chapter gave me all kinds of feels.

Steve sighed as he stood up and started to pace again. He knew it would be about 30 seconds before Connie got onto him for pacing, but he just couldn’t sit any longer.

“Steve, it’s going to be alright,” his wife reassured as she rocked the sleeping baby in her arms. Ah, so she wasn’t going to get into him. She was just going to reason with him. 

“Connie, it’s been like four hours. What the hell is making them have to work on him for four hours?” He asked in an exasperated tone.

Watching her husband pace the length of the cramped waiting room, Connie sighed to herself Steve ran a nervous hand through his hair. It’s something he’d done repeatedly in the hours since seeing Javier off into surgery. She’d only arrived about an hour and a half ago but she was certain he’d been this tense the whole time.

Connie knew he was thinking about losing Brady, his former partner. Hoping to calm his nerves, she gave him a sympathetic smile and tried giving him a dose of logic, “Well, take it from someone who works in a hospital. If Javier didn’t make it past when they took him to the OR, they wouldn’t still be working on him four hours later.” 

“Yeah? Or, one of those docs works for Escobar and they’ve already reduced my partner to pieces and has buried him all over Colombia.” He huffed as he sat beside his wife again. 

“Honey. Carrillo said this place was secure. You need to have a little faith.”

“I let him bleed out, Connie. He’s my partner, and I left him alone. It’s Miami all over again.”

Yep. There it was. Laying a hand on his arm, Connie stressed, “Steve, Brady wasn’t your fault, and neither is this. These narcos, they are evil men who will cut down anyone in their way to get what they want. You did everything you could back in Miami, and you did everything you could now. You saved Javier, despite what you think, and you saved this little one too,” she said, gesturing to the sleeping baby in her arms. “So, don’t discredit what happened today. The fact that all three of you made it out of there alive is a victory—and a miracle.” 

Steve sighed as he buried his face tiredly in his hands. Connie was right. She always was. Even if they hadn’t caught their suspects, they managed to save an innocent life from being cut down in this pointless war. It seemed like these days, that was the only win they could come up with. 

Still, he couldn’t shake the guilty feeling that because of what happened today, it was Javier barely clinging to life, not him. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see Javi’s lifeless gaze looking back at him, and he could still hear his desperate, pained breathing. 

The itchy sensation of his hands pulled him from those thoughts. Looking at him, his stomach turned at how sticky they felt. His hands, shirt, and part of his jeans were tacky with Javier’s blood. All he could smell was copper. 

He needed to wash up. It was everywhere. There was blood on him, blood all over the back seat of their jeep, blood on the baby’s onesie, blood seeping into the ground back at the commune. So much blood everywhere but not enough in Javier’s body, where it belonged. Not enough to keep his heart going. He tried to swallow the nausea that was building in the back of his throat as sweat broke out on his forehead. Of course, Connie would notice his distress. 

“Honey, why don’t you go to the bathroom and wash up. I’m sure they won’t let you back to see him if you look like that. I’ll let the doctor know where you are if he comes out before you get back.” 

Steve was going to protest but Connie gave him a reassuring look and he didn’t want to pass out, so he got up and walked unsteadily to the bathroom that was just off the side of the waiting room. Once in, he leaned over the sink and took some deep breaths, trying to level his head. 

Turning on the water, he stuck his hands under the stream and watched as the red ran from his hands into the sink. Javier’s blood, blood that should be in his body, instead of running down the drain. Quickly he turned the water off, dried his hands on his jeans, and went back out to the waiting room. 

Steve saw a nurse was with his wife, waiting on him, and his heart skipped as he jogged over to them. 

“You came with Agent Peña yes? He’s out of surgery and we would like you to be there when he wakes up.” 

“He’s through it?” Steve couldn’t contain his relief. 

“Yes. The surgery was a success. However, he contracted a severe infection from the internal bleeding he sustained. His-his heart stopped again on the table. He was really, really lucky.” She paused for a moment to let the news sink in, and Steve took a deep, calming breath before nodding for her to continue. “If you’d like to come with me, I’ll take you to him.” 

Steve followed the nurse into post-op fearful of what he would find when he got back there. 

Three times. Javier Peña had nearly left this world three times because of Escobar. 

Steve vowed he would make that son of a bitch pay if it was the last thing he ever did. 

The nurse led him to the recovery room which was mercifully empty except for the few nurses milling about. The low lighting gave the room a subdued, less clinical feel than the rest of the hospital. Steve figured it was probably to soothe the patients waking up from surgery.

His partner was lying still as death on the gurney as Steve cautiously approached. The nurses, who’d been monitoring vitals stepped back to give them some privacy but, to Steve’s immense gratitude, the nurse who spoke English stayed close by just in case he needed her. 

Javier still looked like death warmed over. With an oxygen mask strapped to his face, leads and wires covered his bare chest, and numerous tubes ran from his arms. Regardless of how critical the man looked right now, at least he appeared less gray and corpse-like. Steve was thankful that his partner’s chest was rising and falling steadily with his breathing and wasn’t the frantic shallow quivering as it had been doing earlier. He rested his hand on his partner’s arm. Instead of clammy and cold, Javier’s skin was now much too warm as the infection burned within him. 

“Javier?” Steve called gently as the man started to stir, just now reaching the edges of the drug-induced unconsciousness. “Take it slow. You’re safe.”

Javier’s eyes fluttered open halfway but weren’t quite focused yet. He seemed to still be dazed as his mind tried to catch up with the rest of his body. The heart monitor he was attached to sped up a little bit as he struggled to make sense of things.

“Whoa, easy Javi. It’s alright. I’m right here, brother,” Steve reassured quietly as he squeezed Javier’s arm reassuringly. This time the agent’s eyes drifted over to him and there was recognition in them. 

“There we go. You with me?” 

Javier nodded slowly and took a shuddering breath as the fog from his brain lifted and he became more aware of his surroundings. His hand started to fumble for the oxygen mask.

Steve grabbed his hand gently, preventing him from doing so, “Easy, Javier. You have to leave that on for now. It’s helping. You lost a lot of blood earlier.” 

Javier nodded again before a look of concern crossed his face. 

“What is it, Javi?” Steve asked gently. He could tell Javier was mentally preparing himself for the task of speaking. He was sure his throat was sore from the screaming earlier and even though he was conscious he knew it would still be a bit before his partner had fully come out of his drugged slumber. 

“The kid?” The two-word question carried so much anxiety and concern. 

“She’s fine. Connie has her now. I’m sure you don’t remember but I went back for her after I got you to the jeep. She’s going to be just fine and hopefully, she won’t remember any of this as she grows up.” 

Javier nodded, seemingly reassured when suddenly he squeezed his eyes shut and Steve noticed his grip on the blanket. The heart monitor sped up a bit.

“Hey, Peña. You alright?”

Javier didn’t answer but a soft groan escaped past the oxygen mask and his breathing changed from slow and regular to hitching pants that he seemed to be holding in an effort not to trigger any pain.

“Javi? Javier are you in pain?” Steve asked worriedly to which he got a frantic, fraction of a nod. His hand moved clumsily to his abdomen as his back arched a little and another groan was pulled from him.

“Hey, take it easy, brother,” Steve coaxed as he gently moved Javier’s hand away from the surgical site. It would do no good for Javier to open the stitches or cause any more physical harm to himself. Steve looked to the nurse who was already making her way to the pair with a syringe in hand. 

“The drugs from the surgery are wearing off. I’ll go ahead and start him on some painkillers before we get him settled. If you’d like to wait outside, we’ll come to get you once we get him to his room.” 

The nurse injected the contents of the syringe into Javier’s IV and the man visibly relaxed as the drugs hit his bloodstream. Once again, his heart and breathing slowed to normal paces and his eyes slipped closed as he was pulled under again.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay with him. Given our situation, I think you understand.” 

“Of course, if that’s what you prefer. Give us one minute.” 

The nurse gave a few commands in Spanish and a few more white-clad nurses started to bustle around the gurney, preparing it and its patient for the journey to the hospital room. The nurse touched Steve’s shoulder.

“We’re ready to move him now,” she said, and Steve nodded as he followed the little group out of recovery.

********

Steve was settled in a chair reading listlessly through a magazine when he heard footsteps fast approaching. Jumping to his feet, Steve rounded the bed where his wounded partner lay. Standing between Peña and the door, Steve’s hand snaked back and drew the gun tucked into his waistband. Holding it just behind his leg, he was ready to strike if the footsteps belonged to an attacker. Despite reassurances, he still didn’t feel that he and Javier were safe here. 

To his immense relief, Connie entered the room with a backpack on her back and the baby in her arms. 

Slipping his sidearm back into his waistband, he said, “Hey, where have you been? I’ve been sitting here for like, two hours.” Steve queried as he realized just how much time had passed since the nurses had gotten him and Javier settled into a room. 

“I went to get you some clean clothes and the baby needed a few things,” Connie replied, gesturing to the backpack. Steve helped her take it off as her hands were currently full. 

“Thanks. I’ll change in a bit,” he said as he sat in his chair again. He watched as his wife studied the sleeping agent in the hospital bed before moving down to the foot of the bed. Shifting the baby so she was resting in one arm, Connie picked up the medical chart. Her brow furrowed as she read it. 

“What is it?” he asked. 

“Steve, it says here he lost nearly 37% of his blood volume.” She turned to her husband in disbelief. 

“Certainly, felt like that. He’d already lost a lot when I found him, and it just seemed like it wouldn’t stop.” Steve shuddered internally at the memory of finding Javier desperately trying to hold the blood in his body. 

“You have no idea how lucky he is,” she said as she continued to glance over the chart before hanging it back on the foot of the bed. Returning to her husband’s side, she told him, “I know you feel like today was a bust, but I am proud of you either way.” 

Steve wanted to reply but he could see Javier’s face starting to tense up. Stepping around his wife, he walked up beside the bed, figuring his partner was coming around again. He laid a hand on Javier’s shoulder and the man’s eyes opened, darting around frantically as he tried to make sense of his new surroundings. 

“It’s alright, Javi. You’re in the hospital, remember?” Javier was usually so sharp-witted and intelligent. Seeing him struggling to remember everything was hard to bear. It took a moment but then Javier nodded as everything started to connect in his mind. 

“W-water,” he rasped faintly and winced at how rough and sandpaper-like his throat felt. Steve quickly grabbed the cup with a straw the nurse had left on the bedside table and carefully put it in his partner’s shaking hand, standing-by in case he was needed. 

Javier was thankful that the oxygen mask he vaguely remembered wearing earlier had been replaced with a nasal cannula as he took a few sips of the cool water. When he was done, Steve took the cup and put it back on the table. He was starting to feel a bit more awake now and was becoming more aware of his surroundings. Steve saw him spot Connie, who was waiting patiently on the other side of the room with the baby. 

“Hello, Mrs. Murphy,” Javier murmured in a tired voice and she stepped to the side of his bed with Steve. 

“Agent Peña. It’s nice to see you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“I’ve been better,” came the tired reply. Javier didn’t joke with Connie. He’d only met her one or two times thus far and their relationship was still polite and professional. His gaze shifted to the baby in her arms who giggled and put her hands out to him. Steve caught the ghost of a smile cross his partner’s face. 

He knew Javier wouldn’t ever admit it because it would ruin the image of a smooth-talking local agent who was quick with a gun and even quicker with the ladies, but Steve knew Javier had a soft spot for children. Javier summoned the strength to lift his hand and give the little girl a little tickle under her chin and the child squealed delightedly. 

“I’m sorry. You probably don’t want a baby around when you should be resting and recovering,” Connie said softy, and Javier shook his head. 

“Not at all. I don’t mind. I’m just glad she’s alright,” he replied. Steve could see exhaustion pulling at his partner’s face. He was sure just the brief bit of activity was a lot for him. Connie seemed to notice it too. 

“I’m going to find myself something to drink. You boys play nice,” Connie said with a teasing smile before leaving with the baby.

“You sure picked one hell of a woman, Steve,” Javier said with a tired chuckle. 

“She certainly keeps me on my toes.” Steve turned and saw Javier’s eyes were closed. He worriedly rested his hand on his partner’s forehead. 

“What are you doing?” Javier murmured, half asleep already. 

“Just checking your fever man. You scared the hell out of me earlier.”

“Guess I owe you one.”

“Yeah. When you get out of here, you’re buying me the most expensive bottle of whiskey I can find.” Javier smiled slightly before drifting off to sleep again. 

********

“Honey, why don’t you take a shower and change? The nurse said you could use the lounge if you needed to.”

“You sure it’s alright if I leave him?” Steve asked as he got to his feet. He felt sticky and nasty and desperately wanted to shower, but he also hated to leave Javier alone.

“Of course. He’s been sleeping for a bit. He’ll probably be out for another hour or so and even if he does wake-up, I’m here. He trusts me. I’m sure we can keep each other company for a while. She saw him glance hesitantly at Javier once more. “He’ll be alright, Steve. You need to take care of yourself too. Go take a shower and get something to eat. We’ll be right here when you get back.” 

Steve picked up the book bag and left the room. He prayed that he would be able to find the lounge. All the signs were written in Spanish. 

********

Connie was rocking the baby who was ever so slowly drifting off to sleep. She imagined that given the action the child had witnessed in the last few days, the poor baby hadn’t been on a regular eating and sleeping schedule like a child should. She was murmuring _Summer Breeze_ by Seals & Croft. That song had been playing on the radio on her and Steve’s first date and it had been special to her ever since. 

A soft grunt came from the direction of the bed and she turned to see Javier attempting to reach for the water on the bedside table. “Hey, easy there, Javier!” Connie scolded softly. “Give me a second and I’ll get that for you.”

Carefully, she set the baby in her carrier that had been generously provided by Carrillo. Connie figured he may have been feeling guilty for what happened at the _commune_ and it was his small way of making amends. 

She walked over to the bedside table and grabbed the cup, handing it to Javier, “You should have asked. Trust me, you don’t want to open those stitches up.”

“Didn’t want to interrupt you, Mrs. Murphy,” Javier said with a hint of bashfulness in his voice. 

“Please, call me Connie. Here, let me check your stitches really quick, make sure you didn’t pull anything.”

Carefully she peeled the hospital blanket back enough to reveal the clean white bandage wrapped around his abdomen. To her relief, there were no red spots indicating that the incision site had opened again. “Everything looks fine but try not to do too much moving around. Steve will kill you.” 

Javier chuckled softly, “He’s already going to. I apparently owe him an expensive drink when I get out of here. He’s worse than some of the women I’ve dated.” 

Connie couldn’t help but laugh a little. She’d never spend much time with Javier. They had talked in passing when she helped smuggle Elisa out of Colombia. He’d seemed genuinely concerned about Elisa then. Steve had said it was because Javier was sleeping with her, but Connie believed that Javier could be a nice guy when he wanted to. The bond he and Steve already seemed to have, especially after all that had happened spoke volumes about the kind of man Javier was. 

“I hope I didn’t bother you with my singing. I was just trying to get her to sleep.” 

“Not at all. It was something nice to wake up to,” Javier replied. 

She could tell he was getting tired again. “You can go back to sleep if you like. Steve stepped out to take a shower, but he’ll be back in a bit. I expect we’ll be seeing your doctor soon to top off medications and run some quick checks.”

Javier sighed as he let his eyes slip close and he shifted a bit to get comfortable. He hoped the doctor would be in soon. His stomach was starting to throb. “What time is it?” he asked. 

Connie checked the clock hanging on the beige wall. “It’s about 9:30. Including the time you were in surgery you’ve here about eight hours.” Javier nodded tiredly and before surrendering to the pull of sleep.

Connie watched as his body slowly relaxed and his breathing evened out. She knew he’d gone back to sleep. It worried her that even in slumber, he looked pale and tense. It also worried her that in the eight hours since he’d been brought in, she hadn’t seen a single doctor come in. She hoped someone would be by soon or she just might have to take things into her own hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! As always, rate and review!


	4. SOS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie and Steve start praying for a miracle as things take an unexpected turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovely readers! Hope you're ready for another hefty dose of whump! As always, none of this could have been pulled off without the writing genius of my partner-in-crime, itsagoodthing. Happy reading!

Chapter 4: SOS

_It was a balmy summer evening as she and Steve cruised down the strip at Miami Beach. Their windows were down, and David Lee Roth was screaming through the speakers as Van Halen played on the radio. Looking to her husband, she smiled at him and their hands intertwined. Life was perfect and easy._

A loud alarm jangled Connie out of the dream. The beach and the music disappeared as she found herself slumped over in an uncomfortable hospital chair instead. Groggy and confused, she worked to make sense of things. She heard her name carried on a weak voice punctuated by sharp staggering gasps, and then she was practically falling out of the chair as she lunged for the side of Javier’s bed.

Grabbing his hand, she was shocked at the strength of his grip despite his condition. “C-Connie,” he choked out before he squeezed his eyes closed and let out a pained groan.

“I know, Javier. I know. I’m going to fix it,” She told him. Pushing her hair out of her face, she looked him over, but the source of his distress was pretty clear. A glance at her watch confirmed what she feared. Javier’s pain medication had run its course, and no one had been by to give him another dose. Without it, he was left to the mercy of feeling cut open.

Frowning, at the warmth of his hand, she laid her hand across his brow. The fever from the infection was climbing to dangerous levels.

“Steve! Steve wake up!” Connie called to her sleeping husband. Head tipped back; his mouth hung open as he slept on. She had no idea how he could sleep through all the chaos. “Steve!” Connie snapped, kicking his leg.

He came awake with a jolt and a snort, and Connie turned back to Javier. “What’s going on?” Steve was at Connie’s side now, looking worryingly at his partner.

Javier was arching back against the pain spreading like fire through his middle. He felt Connie’s hand land over his forehead and then she brushed his damp hair off his sweaty forehead. He didn’t think before leaning into her touch, trying to find some relief as he gripped the sheets beneath him, trying to control the pain. Every breath was agony.

Connie looked at her husband, “The infection’s spiking. Quick, I need you to find a doctor. Any doctor. He needs some serious medications right now.”

“Alright. I’m on it,” Steve affirmed as he jogged off to find a doctor.

Connie watched her husband leave before turning back to his injured partner. She was worried about how fast and shallow his breathing was and judging by his grip on the sheets he was in a tremendous amount of pain. Gently she took his hand in hers.

“It’s alright, Javi. Just squeeze my hand when you need to. Try and take slower breaths, alright? It’s going to be ok,” she reassured softly.

********

Steve ran through the halls calling for help. He didn’t care who he was bothering at this point. He spotted a frenzied nurse at the end of a hallway.

“Hey! Hey you! Wait! I need help!” he called as he dashed for her.

The nurse rattled off something at him in Spanish and shook her head as she proceeded to head off in the opposite direction.

“No, wait! Please! My partner needs help! _Ayuda!”_ He at least knew that word. So many victims who had somehow escaped Escobar’s clutches still alive often begged that word, which he now associated with pain and suffering. He had to get this nurse to see that Javier needed help immediately, and without really considering his actions, he grabbed her wrist and tried to gently pull her in the direction of Javier’s room.

The nurse screamed and shouted something as she yanked her arm away from him.

********

Pain was wracking every nerve in his body. Alarms were screaming at him and he couldn’t make them go away. They only got louder and more frantic. There was a cool hand on his face, smoothing his hair back and trying to calm him. He looked over and saw his partner’s wife sitting faithfully by his side. She was telling him to relax and breathe and, dear God, was he trying to listen to her. He most certainly had to be lying there with his abdomen cut wide open because that’s what it felt like. Every breath ended in a strangled groan as he gripped Connie’s hand impossibly tight.

“Connie, please…” he begged in a shaky voice. Those two words took all the strength he had. He wanted to beg her to make the pain stop because he just couldn’t handle it anymore. He’d come to the end of his rope. He squeezed his eyes closed and pressed his head back against the pillow behind him as a mean wave of pain pulled a soft cry from his lips.

********

The nurse’s scream had alerted some of the staff and a doctor came running around the corner. Seeing Steve, the doctor automatically assumed he’d been trying to get frisky with the nurse and growled as he slammed the agent against a wall while shouting insults at him. At least, Steve was pretty sure they were insults. He knew at least one of those words spat his way had been an insult. He’d heard Peña use it, and it didn’t mean anything nice.

Steve’s first instinct came at him fast, urging him to throw the doctor off him and swing back but he needed to get help, and getting tossed out of the hospital on his ass wasn’t going to help Javier.

“Please! Please, I’m begging you. My friend needs a doctor,” Steve explained as he reached for his badge in his back pocket. He showed it to the doctor who immediately let go of him.

“Forgive me.” His words were difficult to understand under his thick accent. “There was another bombing, and we’re swamped with victims. We cannot help you right now,” the doctor clarified before shouts from the adjoining hall called him away from Steve and back to his work. Steve gritted his teeth in frustration and jogged back towards Javier’s room. Everything was rapidly spiraling out of control.

********

Connie wouldn’t let herself grimace as Javier’s grip on her hand increased. It wasn’t weakening in the slightest but if her hold was the only thing keeping him grounded at the moment, she could deal with the pain. Every cry from him made her heart clench. She’s only known him for a few months, but he’s always seemed calm and reserved. Hearing him stripped of his pride and succumbing to the pain, she could only imagine the misery he must be in. She looked up when she heard footsteps and saw her husband rush back in. The distraught look on his face gave her the news before he did.

“There was another bombing. The hospital’s swamped, and there’s no one to come help. All the staff busy.”

“Fuck!” Connie growled. “Steve, we have to do something now. This will kill him.”

Steve looked at her helplessly. This was not his area of expertise and he had no idea how to help her. She looked back at the suffering agent and her resolve hardened. She was not going to give up on him.

“Steve, I need you to stay with him. If no one is going to help us, then we’re going to help him ourselves. I’m going to get whatever supplies I can get my hands on, and I’ll do my best to treat him. I’ve read his chart. I know what he needs,” she directed as she gently disengaged Javier’s hand from hers and patted his shoulder reassuringly. Moving over to the chair where her purse was, she started to rummage around in it.

“They aren’t going to just let anyone start pulling medical supplies, honey,” Steve tried to point out, but he was shut up immediately when she turned and held out her medical badge from the hospital she worked at. Around here, that could open far more doors than his badge could.

“I’ll be back. Stay with him. Try to keep him calm and keep telling him to breathe slowly,” she instructed as she hurried out of the room. 

Steve took his wife’s place at the side of the bed and grasped Javier’s hand tightly. He winced slightly as Javier immediately crushed his hand, but he tightened his grip back. He noticed the man’s breathing was far too shallow and staggered as he had now resorted to holding his breath in order to ease a little of the pain he was in.

“Hey, Javi. Look at me, man,” Steve coaxed gently as he patted his partner’s cheek, getting the man to look at him.

Javier’s head rolled slightly so that he was looking at his worried partner’s face. He barely had the strength to move.

“I know it hurts, Jav, but you need to breathe slowly. Don’t hold your breath. It’s only going to make it worse. I don’t need your heart stopping again.” He could tell his partner was trying to do as he was told. He could see it in the strain on his face, but the injured agent’s strength was waning rapidly.

 _“Trying,”_ Javier choked out. He struggled but every time he tried to breathe the stabbing pain in his stomach grew stronger. His head was pounding so hard he was sure Steve could hear it as his body trembled with the fever.

“Come on Javi. You can do this. You’re the toughest agent I know, you hear me? If anyone is going to pull through this, it’s you. Now focus on following my breathing. Just focus.” Steve started to take slow, measured breaths for Javier to follow. He kept them a little shallow for now since deep breathing didn’t seem to be an option for his partner at the moment. Javier squeezed his eyes shut in concentration and tried to copy Steve’s example. A desperate growl escaped his lips as his chest hitched painfully.

“Easy, Javi. You’re doing great. Just keep breathing,” Steve reassured and moved to place his free hand on his partner’s shoulder, comforting and grounding him. That seemed to help anchor the injured agent as he continued to put effort into keeping his breathing in a more regular pattern.

Connie came in a few minutes later balancing a washbasin filled with supplies on her hip. She was pleased to see that Javier was a fraction calmer than when she’d left and hadn’t gone into cardiac arrest while she was gone.

“Alright,” She told Steve, setting down everything, “You were right, the hospital is swamped and low on resources for the time being, but I got some things that’ll help.”

She started placing items on the counter by the sink, and Steve moved to the other side of the bed so that he could still comfort his partner but not be in the way of his wife’s work. Her first order of business was to strap a clear plastic mask to Javier’s face and connect it to a valve coming out of the wall behind the bed. Steve waited for him to try and push it away. He never did, and Steve’s gut clenched at how wrong that was.

“Keep working with him to breathe slowly while I get this IV swapped out,” she directed to Steve as she prepared another bag full of saline solution.

“Hear her, Javi? Take it slow. Like we were doing earlier,” Steve sat on the side of the bed and coaxed as he was once again helping the agent take slower measured breaths.

As Connie changed the old, empty IV bag for a fresh new one, she glanced at Javier’s monitors and noted that his oxygen levels were looking a lot less scary now with the increased airflow. She filled a syringe from a bottle and carefully injected it into his IV.

“This painkiller isn’t even in the same league with what he needs right now, but like I said, they were slim on resources. I guess a lot of other patients needed heavy painkillers or something. This won’t put him out of it completely, but it’ll take the edge off and help him relax a little while I tend to the wound,” she explained with a wistful look in her eyes. “I’ll give that a minute to kick in before I move to the next part.” 

She grabbed Javier’s hand, and while his grip was tight, it was a relief that it had slacked off a bit as the medicine worked to dull the sharp pain in his stomach. The tension in his face melted away partially and his breathing grew a little deeper.

“There we go. That’s a little better, isn’t it?” she asked softly, smoothing back his damp hair.

He gave her a weak nod and closed his eyes tiredly. He’d been in intense pain for the better part of the hour. While the medication didn’t completely wipe out the pain, it was significantly better than it was.

“Steve, I’ve got to tend to the wound now. Keep him steady while I check this.” Steve nodded in confirmation and put his hand on Javier’s shoulder reassuringly. Carefully, Connie peeled back the bandages covering the surgical site. Javier grunted in pain and squeezed his eyes shut, fogging up the mask briefly. Even the slightest bit of pull or pressure on the wound made the pain flare up again.

“I know, Javi. I’m sorry. I’ll be quick,” Connie flashed him a sympathetic look as she pulled the rest of the bandage away.

Steve couldn’t help but wince and hoped Javier didn’t see. He had expected the ugly dark stitches that stood out against his partner's pale skin. The most concerning sight, however, was the way the wound looked a little red around the edges.

“Alright, I’m going to wash this very carefully, add a little medication that I found and put some fresh bandages on, and that should help. I’m going to take care of you, Javier, I promise.”

He nodded, and Connie grabbed a towel and spread it out on the bed before she tucked the edges under his body to keep from making a mess on the sheets. Next, she cracked open a bottle of saline and grabbed a large cotton pad from the package she’d swiped from the nurse’s station. She wet the pad thoroughly and gently applied it to the surgical site. Javier took in a sharp breath and flinched.

“Does it hurt?” she asked a little worriedly. The wound should not be hurting with so little pressure.

Javier pulled the mask away from his face, “Nah, it’s just cold,” he replied. He gave her a small smile, attempting to put her at ease. “Relax, I’m alright, Connie.”

She smiled as she continued to clean the wound, but she could feel a heaviness tug at her heart. Javier was definitely not alright. His fever was dangerously high, and the wound was already very infected. It needed to have had constant care upon him coming out of surgery, and so far, they basically cut him open and then dumped him in a room to fend for himself. She finished cleaning the wound thoroughly with the saline solution before she threw away the cotton pad. Next, she applied anti-bacterial cream to the wound before putting a clean bandage over the site.

“There. I’m sure that feels a lot better now,” Connie said as she fixed his gown back and pulled up the blankets. Javier nodded. He was getting tired again. It felt like there was a constant cloud of exhaustion hovering over him now. She grabbed the bottle of anti-biotics that was recommended on his chart and filled a syringe with the correct dosage before injecting it into his IV.

“Thank you, Connie,” Javier said tiredly. His eyes had already pulled themselves closed again.

“Get some sleep partner,” Steve said gently as he fixed the oxygen mask over his partner’s face. Javier let out a soft, irritated groan, and Steve grinned. That we more like what he’d expect from his partner. Giving him a look, Steve told him, “Just for now, so you don’t worry Connie with your o2 levels. Okay?” he scolded.

Javier was too tired to fire back with some witty quip, so he gave in and allowed himself to be pulled back into slumber. He was out within seconds.

“Damn, did he fall asleep that quickly?” Steve asked, surprised.

“He’s exhausted, sweetheart. He can’t get any damn sleep when he’s in pain like that.” The baby started to cry. “And he definitely can’t sleep with _that_.”

Steve walked over and picked the crying baby up out of her carrier and bounced her gently, trying to calm her. “What do you want me to do, babe? I can take her home if you’d like. You need to stay here and keep an eye on Javier. You’re the medical professional.”

“No, Javier needs you here, too. He trusts you and, heaven forbid if trouble arose, we would need backup. I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling about this place. I’d feel safer with you here.”

“Well, she can’t sit in that carrier all day,” Steve pointed out as the baby started to fuss again. Tears rolled down her plump cheeks as she reached for Connie, who sighed and got to her feet.

Javier flinched in his sleep but otherwise remained dead to the world. Connie grimaced, “Here, let me take her for a little walk. I’ll figure something out. He should be set for a bit, but if for some reason he goes south, come find me. I won’t leave the floor,” Connie said as she took the baby from her husband and left the room.

********

Connie walked the dim halls, muttering _Summer Breeze_ under her breath absent mindedly as she rocked the little girl in her arms. Desperately, she racked her brain, trying to come up with a solution to her predicament. They couldn’t leave Javier alone. He was going to need both of them to stick by his side. They didn’t have any friends they could trust to leave the baby with, but she couldn’t stay in the hospital room and possibly disturb Javier from what little sleep he was managing to get. She felt trapped and out of ideas.

 _“Ayuda!”_ Connie heard an unmistakably elderly female voice call from a room about two doors ahead of where Connie stood. Her nurse’s heart sprung into action as she made her way quickly to the room.

“Hello? Does someone need help?” she called as she entered the room. An elderly woman was lying in the hospital bed. She was sitting up and looking expectantly at the door when Connie came in. Quickly, Connie did a cursory glance over at the woman but couldn’t see any immediate signs of distress. No monitors were screaming. Everything seemed peaceful and at ease. The woman started to babble something at her in Spanish.

“Do you need help?” Connie asked loudly. There was visible confusion on her face.

“Ah, you speak English. Thank goodness you’re here. I’ve been calling for someone for over an hour! I can’t change the channel on this damn TV!”

Connie still stood in the doorway, completely puzzled by this old woman. The woman in question turned to look at her again.

“Well, are you going to stand there, or are you going to help me?” the woman asked indignantly.

“Sorry, it’s just, you called for help, and I guess I just figured…” she trailed off and shook her head as she walked to the woman’s bedside.

“Well, I tried calling for a nurse earlier to come and fix it, but I haven’t seen a single soul in hours. I figured if I called for help, someone might come rushing to the aid of an old woman,” she explained.

Connie picked up the remote and saw that the batteries had simply come loose. “Mind if I set her down for a minute so I can fix this?” Connie asked, gesturing to the baby in her arms.

“By all means. What a beautiful little girl,” the older woman cooed as Connie gently set the baby down in the woman’s arms and started to fiddle with the batteries, moving them back into place and clicking the back of the remote back on. She tested her work out by pointing the newly repaired remote at the television and changed the channel.

“Wonderful!” The old woman praised. “What’s a nurse doing with a baby?” she asked.

Come was confused for a moment, then looked down and saw the badge still clipped onto her shirt. “Oh, it’s a long story. I don’t actually work here. My husband’s partner was injured and is recovering here,” Connie explained. _More like suffering,_ she thought inwardly. “We’re having the same problem with not seeing any staff. Apparently, there was a bombing, and the hospital is overwhelmed with victims.”

The older woman’s brows knit together in sorrow as she sighed. “I was hoping that this whole war would be over by the time I got out of here, but I guess it seems it’s just getting started,” she said wistfully.

“I’m sorry. Forgive me for saying but your English—”

“Is good? Yes, well, I was married to an American pilot for a while. Ah, that man. He swept me quite off my feet,” the woman replied with a touch of fondness. Connie smiled as she thought about how her own husband had charmed her the night they met. The woman chuckled when she saw Connie’s expression. “You’ve got that same puppy love expression I did when I was younger. I’m sure your husband is quite the charmer.”

“He is. And a good man, a brave man. He saved his partner and this little one single-handedly and hasn’t left since we got here. I’m Connie, by the way.”

“He sounds like a dreamboat, Connie,” the woman said good-humoredly. Her expression turned serious. “I imagine his partner was wounded very badly if he had to be helped out.”

Connie nodded in affirmation, “Unfortunately, yes. In fact, I probably should be getting back to them. I’ve taken over his care since I can’t get anyone who works here to help,” she said as she picked the baby up and rose to her feet

“I’d like to come if you don’t mind. I’m sick of sitting in this bed,” the woman replied as she pushed back her covers and swung her feet over the side of the bed.

“Oh, that’s alright. If you’re sick or hurt, I don’t want to make anything worse,” Connie protested but the woman was already slipping her feet into her slippers that were beside her bed.

“That’s alright, dear. I was supposed to be discharged today, but no one’s been by to see me. I’m Salome in case you wanted to know,” she chirped as she pulled her bathrobe close to her body and started to shuffle out of the room. “Besides, I want to meet your dreamboat!”

Connie couldn’t help but chuckle at the funny old woman as she led the way out of the room and down the hall.

********

Steve glanced up from the book he was skimming through absentmindedly. Javier was twitching and shifting restlessly in his sleep. Occasionally he would mutter something incoherent and muffled by the mask, and Steve felt rage burning in him. Whoever did this to his partner, he was going to bury them six feet under. He got to his feet and walked to Javier’s bedside as the muttering started to take on a distressed tone.

“Shhhh, it’s alright, Javier. You’re safe,” Steve said in a low tone as he rested his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I’m here. I’ll keep you safe.” He heard footsteps enter the room behind him. “Hey, Connie, I think his fever’s rising.” He turned and saw Salome enter the room with Connie and the baby behind her. He looked at his wife and gave her a puzzled look, asking wordlessly for an explanation.

“Honey, this is Salome. Salome, this is Steve. I met her when I was taking the baby for a walk,” Connie explained as Salome shuffled her way to Steve. She studied him for a moment, and her eyes lit up as she reached up and patted his cheek.

“You remind me of my Earnest; God rest his soul.” She turned to look at Connie. “Oh, you’ve definitely picked quite the winner here, Connie.” Connie caught her husband blushing just a bit at Salome’s compliment.

Salome’s gaze shifted to the hospital bed. Her brow furrowed in concern as she lumbered to the sick agent’s bedside. Steve felt himself tense up. He’d become increasingly protective of Javier since he’d been injured. Connie saw him and was at his side in a moment. Salome reached out and put her hand to Javier’s fevered brow, and Steve flinched. Connie rubbed his arm soothingly as if to remind him that Javier was safe.

“He’s very ill,” Salome commented as she pulled her hand away.

“Yes, he is. I’m doing everything I can to help,” Connie replied. Salome turned and looked at the couple.

“Let me look after the little one,” she said decisively.

“Oh, no. We couldn’t let you go to all the trouble,” Steve started to protest.

“Nonsense! I’m bored and lonely, and the poor young man here can’t possibly rest with a baby crying and keeping him up. Besides, this is no place for a baby,” Salome tutted as she stretched out her hands and gestured for Connie to give her the baby.

In any other situation, Connie would have never willingly handed over a child to a complete stranger, but she was desperate, and Salome was right. It wasn’t fair to the little girl to keep her cooped up in the carrier, and she needed to focus on Javier and take care of him. This made the most sense. Carefully she handed the little girl to Salome who cradled the child in her arms and started to sing a lullaby softly.

“Thank you,” Connie said gratefully. “You don’t know how much you’re helping us out.”

“No, thank you. I have been a very lonely woman until now,” Salome said with a soft smile before shuffled out of the room.

Once Salome was gone, Steve turned back to his wife. “What the hell was that?” He asked.

“A blessing in disguise, Steve. One I’m grateful for. Maybe Javi can finally get some sleep now. He needs it desperately.”

“I know, honey. I know,” Steve reassured as he turned to his wife and kissed her forehead tenderly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Brace yourselves cause this fic ain't over. As always, rate and review!


	5. What Doesn't Kill You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Javier's condition takes a turn for the worse and Connie is a BAMF.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovely readers! Thank you so much for sticking with this fic. This chapter was so much fun to write. As always, I couldn't do it without the help of my lovey co-author in crime, Itsagoodthing. Hope you enjoy!

“How the hell can you call this a hospital when they just stick you in a room and fucking forget about you!”

“Steve quiet down,” Connie warned as she held her hand to Javier’s brow. Steve huffed and crossed his arms as he turned to look out the window for about the hundredth time. He was worried about his partner and it was coming out as aggression. Connie knew, and she didn’t take it personally. 

In all honesty, he wasn’t overreacting either. Javi’s condition wasn’t exactly great. It wasn’t taking a nosedive by any means, but he wasn’t getting any better. If anything, he had been getting just a little bit worse steadily over the last few hours. Looking down at the agent in the bed, she didn’t like how warm he still felt under her touch. He’d supposedly been given a round of antibiotics after surgery. Still, the longer they stayed abandoned in his hospital room with not even a whisper of a medical professional having stopped by in the last four hours, the more she grew concerned with his condition. 

She needed to recheck his surgical wound. The last time she looked, it hadn’t been a model example of a properly healing wound, but it also hadn’t looked like anything she needed to be concerned of just yet. That was rapidly changing as his situation deteriorated, but she chose to hold off a little bit longer. Javi was sleeping, and Connie decided to let him have a longer moment of peace before she started bugging him. 

Stepping away from the bed, she walked up behind her husband and wrapped her arms around his middle. Pressing her face between his shoulder blades, she kissed him through his shirt. Steve’s hand came down and rubbed her arm. He didn’t say anything, so Connie told him, “Javi’s going to be okay, Steve. If we can’t get him any damn medical care in this hospital, we’ll just keep taking care of him ourselves.”

She could feel his huff of a response through his back, “What if he needs medicine or a procedure, Connie. Then what? How the hell are we supposed to take care of something like that?”

Connie kept her arm around his waist as she circled to stand in front of him, “One thing at a time, honey. Okay? Let’s just take one thing at a time.” 

Steve’s gaze moved away from the window and dropped down to her. He looked at her for a beat, and then took her head in his hands and then pressed his lips to her forehead in a long kiss. Pulling back, he told her, “You’re pretty incredible, Mrs. Murphy. You know that?”

She smiled and patted his face, “You have your own greatest hits album, Agent Murphy. Don’t forget that.” He smiled at her for the first time that day. Then, it looked like he was going to say something else, but coughing from behind him had Steve turning to look over his shoulder. 

Connie peeked around her husband and frowned. Patting Steve’s arm, Connie walked over to the bed. 

Javier had a hand pressed to his side and his face was pulled tight in pain as he adjusted in the bed. Connie touched his arm, “Javi? Hey, you okay?” 

He cracked an eye open and looked at her, “Ah,” he tried to chuckle, but it just came out as a breathy, dry sound. “If you consider my insides feeling like they’re smoldering, then, sure.”

“Yeah, that’s no good.” She leaned against the handrail to the bed, saying, “Javi, I can’t find your doctor. There was some sort of bombing—”

“Bombing?” Javier questioned, and he got that look Steve gets when shit is going down. Wounded, exhausted, and probably becoming ill, the DEA in the man still rose to the surface, and he asked, “What bombing?” 

“Fucking Escobar,” Steve added from the window. He walked over and stood at the foot of Javi’s bed. Crossing his arms, he filled in his partner, “Blew up a fucking tour bus right outside an outdoor market.” Javier just laid there looking pissed and Steve said, “that’s why we can’t find anyone to help you. This rinky-dink fucking hospital is swarmed with wounded. They’re fucking treating them out in the parking lot because there’s not enough room in the ER.”

Javier leaned back against the pillows and closed his eyes on an exhale. He was pissed about the loss of more innocent lives, just like Steve was pissed, and she gave him a minute to process the news. He breathed in again and grimaced as his hand held fast to his side.

“Javi.” Connie touched his shoulder, “I’m concerned about your temperature. I think it’s going up again.” He looked at her, and she told him, “I’d like to look at your wound again. May I?”

His expression was a little hesitant like he was embarrassed, and he told her, “You don’t need to trouble yourself, Connie.” He looked at Steve, “You two really don’t need to stay.”

“Ha!” Steve barked out a laugh, “And leave you alone to rot in this place when there hasn’t been an inkling of a doctor sighted for hours? Not a chance.” He gave Javier a hard look, saying, “You’re stuck with us, partner. So, be a good little patient and let nurse Connie take a look at your wound.”

Javier gave him a weak sneer, “Well, since you put it like that.” 

Connie wanted to smack them both, but then Javi looked at her, and his mask dropped. He looked positively miserable as he told her, “Sure, Connie. Thanks.”

Smiling at him, she patted his shoulder. She pulled the covers down to his waist and gathered up his gown. Pushing it off to the side, she used a delicate touch to peel back the dressing covering the incision mark. 

Balancing on the balls of his feet, Steve leaned forward some as he looked on from the foot of the bed. He made a face, asking, “Is it supposed to be red like that? That’s not good. Right?”

Connie shook her head, “No. It’s not. It’s gotten worse since I last checked.” She placed a gentle palm over the wound and frowned at the heat she felt there. Shaking her head again, she examined the bandages she pulled off, saying, “You’ve got some discharge going on here, Javi.”

He went to look but dropped back as soon as his abdominal muscles engaged, and Connie showed him the wound dressing. He looked at it and then looked at her, “Not good. Right?”

“Right.”

“Okay, so,” Steve piped up from the foot of the bed, “So, what do we do?”

Connie looked at her husband for a beat, then she turned to Javier, saying, “This one’s up to you, Javi. The wound needs to be opened and cleaned with a saline solution. I’ve seen the procedure dozens of times and have assisted through them all. I can do it, but do you feel comfortable with me taking care of this for you?”

“Or,” Steve offered, “You could lay here and hope you see a doctor by the end of the week.”

“Steve…” Connie rolled her eyes at his dramatics and looked back to Javier. Giving him a nod, she told him, “You tell me what you want, and we’ll do it.”

Javier gave her a half shrug, “Looks like you’re my best bet right now. As long as you don’t mind.”

She smiled, “I don’t mind.”

He gave her a nod, “Okay.”

Connie didn’t bother with replacing the bandage; she just pulled down the gown and fixed the covers. Turning to Steve, she said, “I’ll be right back.”

She walked out of Javier’s room and closed the door behind her. Looking around, she walked down to the nurses’ station. It looked abandoned, and she hoped there weren’t any other patients in the ward that would need help as Javier does. 

Walking behind the desk, she went into a back room area that was stocked with supplies. She grabbed a basin, four liters of saline solution, an irrigation syringe, suture removers, and a few other things she knew she’d need. Just as she was about to walk out, a rack of blue-colored scrubs caught her eye. She grabbed a set in her size.

Looking both ways, Connie walked back down the hall and went back into Javier’s room. They both eyed her haul as she walked past the bed and set the items down on the tray-table. Grabbing the scrubs, she went into the bathroom to change. 

When she came back out, Steve said, “How messy do you expect this to get?”

“Not at all.”

“Then what’s with the quick wardrobe change?”

“I’m going to need to go down to the ER and grab a couple of things the nurses’ station didn’t have up here, and I’ll need to blend in.”

“What are you going to grab?”

Walking back up to the bed, she fixed her hair up into a ponytail, saying, “Pain medicine, another few bags of IV fluids, stuff like that. I won’t be long.” 

She headed for the door, and Steve told her, “Okay, well… don’t get arrested for stealing or anything.”

Connie grinned, “You don’t give me enough credit, Agent Murphy. I’m an ER nurse. I’ll be in my element.” 

She looked at Javi, “I’ll be in and out. Just hang tight for a little while and we’ll get you all straightened out.” He gave her a tired smile, and she glanced at her husband before walking out the door. 

********

Stepping into the elevator, Connie selected the button for the ground floor and then clipped her badge to her scrubs top. Her ID wasn’t associated with this hospital, but if things were as bad as she expected them to be, it wouldn’t make a difference. Staff would be too busy to take notice. 

Things were nowhere as bad as she’d expected. They were so much worse. She could hear the mayhem on the ground floor rising through the elevator shaft, and she was passing the second floor. 

The elevator jostled in its landing, and the noise from behind the door was dreadful. Connie’s never been in a war one before, but if she had, she’s pretty sure it would sound similar. The doors opened, and for a moment, she just stood there. There were people everywhere. 

People on gurneys, people along the walls, people laid out on the floor, stepping off the elevator, her jaw dropped as she saw someone sprawled across the admissions counter with a doctor arm-deep in their chest. And, this was just the lobby. 

Connie had an almost irresistible urge to jump in and try to help. It was her job, helping people, it’s what she decided to do with her life—and she was good at it. 

Stay focused. Grab what you need and get out. Connie thought as she started people-weaving through the crowd. The injured pulled at her uniform, grabbed her hands and arms, someone latched on to her ponytail as she pushed her way further into the ER. She must have said lo siento a hundred times before she made it into the actual emergency department. The scene back there wasn’t any better. 

In her mind, Connie was rattling off the list of items she came for. Walking past a few racks, she grabbed a basin and started throwing stuff in. Everything she needed was mostly picked over but the more she dug around in the shelves lining the hallway, the luckier she got at finding something that had been shoved back in the wrong spot or had fallen behind the shelving unit. 

The one thing she could not find was pain medication. It was picked clean. Swearing under her breath, Connie started going room to room. No one questioned her. Everyone was moving in a frenzy. There was no such thing as patient privacy in a war zone. 

Squatting in front of a cabinet in the fifth trauma room she entered, Connie was rifling through the disorganized contents when the clanking of glass vials cut through the sound the young woman choking on blood behind her. Pulling them out, she prayed for something other than snakebite antivenom, something she’d already found plenty of. 

The woman behind her choked again and then went silent. Connie didn’t think about it. Reading the labels, she realized she’d found Lidocaine. It was a local anesthetic. It wasn’t what she wanted, and it wasn’t going to be enough to tackle the pain Javier would be in once that last dose of pain medication finished wearing off, but it was something. They’d make it work—somehow. There wasn’t any other choice. 

********

Stepping back off the elevator on Javier’s floor, Connie ducked back behind the nurses’ station and grabbed another set of scrubs. Throwing it into the basin propped on her hip, she did another quick comb-over of the supplies there, grabbed a few more syringes, and a tube of numbing gel, and then headed down the hall.

Pushing into Javi’s room, Steve took one look at her and rose to his feet, demanding, “What the hell happened to you!” He almost shouted and then tossed a glance at the bed. 

Connie followed his line of sight and found his partner had slipped off into a restless sleep. His raspy breathing echoed through the room, and Connie couldn’t believe that he’d gotten worst since she’d been gone. 

Steve’s hands landed on her arms, and she flinched. 

“Connie, hey. You okay?” He asked, looking her over. She knew she looked like she just went a few rounds with Mad Max in the Thunderdome. There was blood on her scrubs, her arms, her pants, her shoes, and probably her back. Her hair was falling out of the elastic holder, and she was pretty sure she had marks on her neck from the nails of a lady who had tried to grab her. 

She didn’t want to think about it.

Pushing past Steve, she told him, “It was chaos down there. I’m lucky I made it out in one piece.” Setting the basin down on the counter by the sink, she felt him come up behind her. His hands landed on her shoulders as she organized their supplies. Getting down to the bottom, she grabbed the two small vials of lidocaine and turned to face him, “There is no pain medication, Steve. None. This is all I could find.”

He took one and turned it in his hand as he read the label. It was in Spanish, but the word was similar enough that he asked, “Isn’t this just…”

She took it back and set it on the counter by the syringes, “It’s a local, yes. It’s meant to treat superficial injuries. Not the internal damage Javier is dealing with.”

He looked at her for a moment, shocked, then told her, “Well, that’s not going to cut it.”

“It’s going to have to.”

“Connie, no. He—” Steve glanced over his shoulder and then stepped closer and lowered his voice, “He’s been shot, and they opened him up and messed around with his insides, Connie. The man’s going to be in some bad fucking pain pretty soon and this,” he gestured at the counter behind her, “Is the best we’ve got?”

She sighed and pulled the elastic band out of her hair. The rest of her ponytail dropped around her shoulders, and she told him, “You think I don’t know that, Steve. I’m doing the best I can. I fucking pilfered through a cabinet to the tune of a girl younger than me choking on her own blood. I didn’t help her. I didn’t see if there was anything to do. I let her die because I was on a damn mission to find whatever I could to help your partner. 

“That girl died in that room, alone, with my back to her, and I did nothing.” Her voice wavered, and Steve grabbed her. He pulled her against himself, and his arms wrapped around her. Closing her eyes as he held her tight, she finished by saying, “So, yeah, that’s all I could find. It’s the fucking best I could find.”

“Alright, Connie. I’m sorry. I just—”

“I know. I do.” Pulling back, she looked up at him, “I’m just as upset about the circumstances as you are.” She thought for a moment, and then spoke aloud as she considered something, “Maybe… maybe if I can sneak up into the surgical ward. I mean, I saw a surgeon downstairs in the ER. I’m sure they’re all called out, maybe I can sneak into recovery and see if there is any pain medicine up there.”

“No, Connie. Not right now.” He pulled her close and kissed her head, “You’ve done enough for right now.” 

“No, now I’ve got to wake up your partner and mess around with his wound.”

Steve looked at her, “Shouldn’t we just let him sleep?”

“No. I need to get it done before it has a chance to enter into his bloodstream. If that happens, we’re in some seriously deep shit.”

Steve glanced over at his partner and ran a hand over his mouth, “Okay, babe. You’re running this show. Just tell me what you need me to do.”

“Okay.” Connie looked around at her supplies and then down at her top. “I’m going to change out of this first.” Grabbing the new scrub top, she went into the bathroom and yanked off the destroyed garment. She didn’t look at it. She didn’t want to be reminded of all the people she couldn’t help. Throwing it into the trash, she threw on the new one and then pulled her hair back and secured it with the elastic band again and then washed her hands.

Shouldering open the bathroom door, Connie walked over and grabbed the things she would need and set them out on the tray-table by the bed. She looked over at her husband, saying, “Okay, Steve. Go ahead and wake him up.”

Steve looked down at his partner, clearly struggling with what he had to do, and Connie couldn’t blame him. Javier looked like he had aged years in only the last few hours as the constant pain had made it difficult to get any sleep. Lines of strain seemed to have etched a permanent mark into his brow and the corners of his eyes even as he drifted through a restless sleep. Slowly, the utter exhaustion was trying to warp Javier in a corpse once more. 

Connie felt just as shitty about disturbing him as Steve. But it had to be done. Javier would eventually lapse into sepsis and die if the abscess wasn’t treated now.

Tying on a surgical mask, she watched the way Steve’s hand hovered over Javi. He waited a beat and then dropping it to his shoulder, he rubbed back and forth with soft, quick motions as he called his partner’s name. 

It didn’t take much encouragement to rouse Javier from the light sleep he’d been stumbling through. After only calling for him once, Javier’s eyes snapped open, and he drew in a startled breath. 

Right away, Connie could tell that something was off. He looked at Steve, and then frowned, flinching back just a bit.

“Whoa, Javi. Easy, man.” Steve told him. 

“Don’t—don’t touch me.” Javier stuttered as he grabbed his side and tried pushing himself up higher in the bed. “I won’t talk.”

“What?” Steve raised his hands in surrender, assuring, “Hey, relax. You’re okay. It’s just Connie and me.”

“No. You’re lying. _No creeré tus mentiras_.” (I won’t believe your lies) His spat out. Despite how shaky and hoarse his voice was, it carried with it a hint of malice. 

Steve flinched back from the odd response and shot Connie his What the fuck look. Turning back to his partner, Steve gestured toward the other side of the bed, stressing, “Peña, it’s just Connie.”

Javier’s gaze flicked over to her. He looked at her, and she didn’t see any recognition in his glassy eyes, only fear and something slightly dangerous Connie didn’t recognize. She’d never seen Javier deal with suspects and criminals. The closest she’d ever gotten to “work Javier” was when he helped her smuggle Elisa out of Colombia. He’d been kind and gentle then. The look he threw her way now, it practically dared her to piss him off. 

_The fever_ , she thought and then attempted to take his temperature by resting the inside of her wrist to his brow. Before she could touch him, he’d batted her away, and Steve grabbed his wrist. The monitor sped up a bit with Javier’s heartbeat as the situation started to escalate. 

“Don’t—” Javi practically growled as he pulled against Steve’s hold. “Let me go!” The movement disagreed with his wound and his head slammed back against the pillows as he groaned lowly. Face pulled tight over the pain, Javi panted and Connie reached across the agent to disengage Steve’s grip. 

He looked at her, and she gave him a high-sign, saying, “The fever, Steve. He’s confused. He probably thinks, I don’t know like maybe Pablo’s men have him or something. Getting physical with him isn’t going to help. Talk to him. It’ll filter through in a second.”

Rubbing his hands on his jeans, Steve leaned over the handrail to the bed, “Javi.” When he didn’t get a response, he reached out and touched his shoulder. Javier flinched like he might lash out again, but Steve gave it a squeeze, and he seemed to relax a little. Rubbing his thumb over the muscle, he spoke in a soft tone, “Jav, look at me, man. C’mon.”

Javier took another fractured breath, and then his brow pulled together as he looked over at Steve’s side of the bed. 

“There ya go, partner. Hey, you’re okay. It’s just Connie and me. I know that fever is cooking your brain, screwing up all the details, but trust me, you’re safe. No one’s trying to hurt you, man. You’re with friends. I got your six. Just like always. Okay? You with me?”

The more Steve talked, the calmer Javier became. Connie could tell what Steve was saying had cut through the confusion of the fever and they watched him pull the pieces together.

“You with me?” Steve asked again, and Javi closed his eyes. Swallowing, he rasped out a shaky, “Yeah.”

Steve’s hand landed on the top of Javier’s head for a moment and leaning close, he told him, “Okay. You remember Connie being here?” His partner gave Steve another weak nod and then he looked over toward her again. This time Connie saw the recognition in his eyes. The feral look of anger he’d thrown at her earlier would haunt her for many nights to come. 

Connie grabbed his hand, “Hey, Javi.” Rubbing her thumb over his hand, she smiled with the way his hand closed around hers. His eyes slid shut, and she gave his hand a light squeeze, asking, “Javi, do you remember talking about your wound being infected?” 

He nodded again but didn’t open his eyes. Looking at him, she said, “Okay, I’m going to start now. The sooner I start, the quicker this will be over, and then you can sleep. I feel terrible that I can’t offer you adequate pain medicine.” 

His eyes cracked open to look at her, and she explained, “The hospital is picked clean.”

Swallowing, he nodded, “It’s okay. There are people who need it more than me.” 

“Well, you know…,” They both turned to look at Steve, and he offered, “I could always just go procure some unofficial pain meds.”

Javi smirked, but Connie just scowled at her husband. “Unofficial…’ What are you talking about?”

Steve looked at Javi, and they both grinned, then Javi turned, and his glassy eyes landed on her. “He’s talking about picking something up on a street corner.” Her brow scrunched for a second, and then she shot a look over the bed. “God, Steve. You’re DEA, for fuck's sake!”

Her reaction drew out a dry chuckle from the wounded agent in the bed as her husband laughed out loud. 

Connie shook her head, “As the chief medical professional in this hospital room, I draw the line at the use of illegal street drugs. God knows what kind of crap is in that shit. Probably be ingesting Draino or something…”

Steve laughed, and she smiled at the sight. His strange sense of humor could be ridiculous at times, but now, it worked well within their fucked-up situation to lift the heaviness a little bit, and She hated to be the one to draw it to a close. 

“Javi,” Connie squeezed his hand, and she continued by telling him, “I was able to scrounge up a local anesthetic. It’ll help, but Jav…,” She frowned and touched her other hand to his fevered brow. Either her tone or the sudden, almost intimate, show of comfort she gave drew a sobering look of awareness to his face. The brief dose of humor dried up and he blinked at her as she warned, “It’s not going to be enough. This is going to hurt.”

Shifting in the bed, he told her, “It’s okay, Connie. I can handle it. Go ahead.” 

Connie smoothed her hand back from his forehead and squeezed his hand again before pulling away. “Okay, hold on, I’m going to drop the rail on this side of the bed,” she warned before the loud clang of the gear releasing sounded through the room. She pulled the blanket back and then pushed his gown out of her way. Taking another look at the wound, she sighed internally at how it already appeared to have worsened in the last hour. 

Red, swollen and much too warm to the touch, red streaks now radiated outward from the incision mark. She started to pull on a pair of blue latex gloves and noticed a shiver roll through the wounded agent. “Javi, you okay?”

He glanced at her, “Cold.”

She offered him a sympathetic nod, “Yeah, that’s the fever, I’m afraid. Let’s get this taken care of and then I’ll get you on some medicine for that. You’ll be feeling better in a bit.” She was trying to remain positive. She had to for Javier because the road ahead looked like it was going to be long and difficult. 

Looking across the bed, Connie pulled up her surgical mask over her mouth and nose and told her husband, “Steve, if it gets to be too much for him, I might need you to hold him steady.” 

Chewing on his thumbnail, Steve looked over and gave her a solid nod. She could see the nervousness in her husband’s eyes, and she didn’t blame him. This wasn’t how this procedure was supposed to be conducted and despite her calm exterior, she was a nervous wreck on the inside. 

Connie measured out a dose of the Lidocaine into a syringe and then pushed out before angling it down to the agent, saying, “Just the topical, Javi. It might burn a little before it takes effect.”

He watched her as she lowered the needle to his side and went about injecting the local into about five different areas surrounding the incision mark. “Okay. We’ll give that a moment to kick in.” Connie tossed the needle into the sharps bin and then cracked open the seal on a liter of saline solution. Rolling up a few hand towels, she wedged them carefully between his side and the mattress as well as tucking a couple into the edge of the blankets at his waist to catch any runoff.

Tearing open a box of gauze pads, Connie told Javier, “I’m going to probe around the wound a little and see if the local has done its job.” 

Again, Javier looked down at what she was doing and when she looked back at him, he told her, “It’s good.”

“Okay, then let’s get this over and done with. I’ll talk you through it, okay?” He gave her a fraction of a smile and she could tell he was bracing himself as she picked up a pair of surgical scissors and started snipping through the dark threads holding his flesh together. Setting the cutters down, she picked up a pair of forceps and worked on removing the sutures. 

For the most part, everything went smoothly, and Javier didn’t seem to react to what she was doing. He was calm and his eyes were closed but there was a slight tension in his muscles as if he was preparing for something awful to overwhelm him at any second. 

Putting the forceps down, Connie told him, “I’m going to open the wound now, Javi. You might feel this.” 

Steve’s hand landed on Javier’s shoulder again as she used her fingers to spread apart the incision. Connie wasn’t sure if it was the pressure against the wound, or if it was the manipulation of the incision that drew out a breathy grunt. 

His body tensed further, but otherwise, he didn’t move a muscle. She gave him a glance and then refocused on her job, saying, “I’ve got the wound open. The good news is it doesn’t look as bad as I thought it might, but it’s still not good. There is a small abscess.” She looked at Javier. “I’m going to need to cut it away. It’ll be quick, but painful. Try not to move if you can manage it.”

He looked at her with his feverish gaze, and his brow pulled together the slightest in apprehension, but he still gave her a firm nod, signaling he was ready, and Connie picked up the scalpel. 

Keeping the wound forced open, she leaned in close as she made quick, purposeful strokes around the inside, working to remove the infected tissue. Connie could feel his abdominals clench under her touch. He was hurting, but he was trying to stay still. It took a lot of resolve to force yourself not to move when someone is carving around on your insides. 

She tried not to think about it as she worked, but Javi made that hard by the soft, strangled noises he tried not to voice. He was internalizing the pain and she knew it was because he didn’t want to make her job more difficult. 

Connie shot Steve a glance, but he was already leaning in to grab Javier’s hand. The agent didn’t hesitate before his hand clamped down around her husband’s and Connie felt tears start to burn in her eyes. She was helping him, she knew Javier needed this, but at the same time she was torturing the man. It was a delicate balance to stay focused on her work to get it finished as soon as possible, yet take the time the procedure needed to make sure they got it done right the first time. She did not want to have to put Javier through this a second time. 

She was mostly finished by time the monitor above the bed started throwing off warning tones, startling her out of her concentration. Pausing in her work, Connie’s eyes skipped up to the monitor and took in his heartrate and o2 stats. Looking at Javier, she said, “Javi. Hey. Don’t hold your breath. Breathe, Javier.”

Flicking a look at Steve, she didn’t have to ask him to take over for her as he read her perfectly. Steve was good like that. 

He leaned over his partner and used his free hand to push back his unruly dark hair, ordering, “Breathe, Javi. Unless you want that annoying oxygen mask back, you gotta breathe, man.”

Javier groaned through a long growl, and then the air he had trapped left his lungs in a forceful whooshing exhale. He was panting hard with his eyes shut tightly, and Connie looked up from her work for a moment, “Almost done, Javi. Hang in there, hon. I’m going as fast as I can. You got this.” 

Glancing at the hand holding Steve’s as she returned to her work, she could see the veins standing out in both agents’ arms from the force of their shared grip. Javier’s fingertips were practically white, and Connie really hoped he wouldn’t manage to break her husband’s hand. 

Connie leaned close as she freed the very last of the infected tissue and then dropping the scalpel, she grabbed the forceps and removed it from the wound. “Cutting’s done, Javi. You did great. That part is over now. Take a second, and then I’m going to irrigate it with saline solution.”

Removing her gloves, Connie grabbed an extra towel and wet it under the faucet. Walking back up to Javier, she folded it and held it to his brow as she watched his vitals for a bit. A tiny bit of relief drifted into Javier’s face as the cool fabric touched his flushed skin. Things were better, but not great. She needed to finish so that he could rest and recover from this. 

Leaving the towel where it lay, Connie put on another pair of gloves and opened the saline solution. “Pouring the saline now. Hang on, it’s going to burn,” she warned and forced herself not to listen as the growling started up again. 

She knew the saltwater must feel like acid to the exposed flesh of his raw insides. Looking down, he watched her for a second and then his head slammed back against the pillows with a clipped cry. He arched back under the clear liquid flowing into the wound and Steve’s hands landed on his shoulders, keeping him steady. 

The oxygen alarm started chiming again in its urgent tones and Steve trapped Javier’s face in his hands. Forcing his head in his direction, he leaned over him, patting his cheek, “Peña, breathe! Quit holding your damn breath.” His voice was authoritative and a little scared, and Connie imagined it must have sounded close to earlier when he’d first found Javier bleeding out. 

The stimulation seemed to work because then Javi’s hand grabbed Steve’s shoulder and his breaths began sawing in and out. Throwing his head to the side, he alternated between groaning and breathing, and Steve leaned over him even more. To Connie, it looked like he was trying to shelter his partner from the pain. The whole scene was tearing her apart on the inside. 

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. If Javier were in an American hospital, he’d be well on his way to recovery by now, or at least be peacefully unconscious and blissfully unaware of this entire procedure. She felt primitive, like some armature in the back corner of an undeveloped country as she stared into the open wound before her. The tears were starting to form again.

Blinking them back, Connie emptied the last of the saline solution into the wound and tossed the empty bottle into the trash. _Focus. Just stay focused_ , she thought to herself. 

Grabbing a length of plastic tubing, she was gentle as she dipped it down into the wound and began to drain the abscess. The feel of it inside his abdomen made Javi flinch. Hard. 

Connie was careful as she pushed his side back down and started packing off the tube as it worked to clear out the infection. One glance at her husband and she noticed how Javi was gripping Steve’s arms so tightly he was practically lifting himself off the mattress. 

“Easy, Javi.” Connie soothed, forcing her voice to be firm, telling him, “We’re done for a few minutes as the drain does its job. Try not to think about it if you can.” 

Steve looked over to where she was fiddling with the drain, and then visibly gagged at the blood and puss running through the clear tube. Normally she’d roll her eyes at the reaction, but the way Javi was trembling and sweating stole her attention away from her husband’s weak stomach.

Grabbing the towel that slipped off Javi’s forehead, she sat close to him on the bed. Talking to him in soothing tones, she moved the towel over his face, wiping away tears of pain that mixed with the sweat rolling down the sides of his face and neck. From how Steve always talked about Javier, the agent was never anything but calm and collected, always in control of the situation and his own methods and actions. 

Now, watching as he came apart at the seams, Connie again had a hard time keeping her own emotions in check. He was helpless against the pain she was putting him through, and it was breaking him down bit by bit. Ditching the towel, she grabbed the hand he had twisted in the bedding. Smoothing her other hand over his face, she stroked his hair back and talked to him, promising him that it was almost all over, telling him how good he had been doing and how close they were to being done. 

Lying as still as possible, she could tell that he was trying not to breathe deeply. She was sure any level of regular breathing would aggravate the tube inside his abdomen and, holding his hand, she didn’t nag him about even respirations this time. Instead, she let him pant and squeeze her hand as hard as he needed to as she kept stroking the side of his face, talking to him, and trying to get him to relax a little. 

“Connie.” She looked at Steve, and he asked, “How much longer, Connie?” 

“Two minutes. Then I’ll remove the drain and pack it off. That will be the last of it.”

He looked down at where Javier was still clutching his arm and breathing shakily. Steve tossed a concerned gaze back her way, and she looked at Javier’s vitals. 

Connie decided that the last sixty seconds wouldn’t make that much of a difference. Javier’s system was too weak to be put through this much added stress for so long. Steve was right; he needed this to be over now. 

Pushing back to her feet, Connie cracked open another bottle of saline solution. “I’m removing the drain now, Javi.” A weak moan pulled from his throat as she worked as delicately as possible. Grabbing a wad of sterile gauze, she poured the saline over it until it was saturated and dripping off her gloved hand. “Javi, this is the last of it. I’m going to pack it off now. One big, nasty burst of pain, and then I’m done. Okay? You can do this.” 

Javier didn’t respond, but Steve gave her a nod, and, closing her eyes, she steeled herself. Then, working quickly, she parted the incision line and pressed the soaked gauze deep into the wound. 

Arching off the bed, Javier tipped his head back and loosed a tortured yell. He writhed back with a violent jerk, and she grabbed his arm with her free hand, trying to still him. 

Steve dropped the handrail on his side of the bed. Javier was still squirming, trying to arch away from her touch, and Steve grabbed him, pulling him against himself. The injured agent was begging something brokenly in Spanish, and Connie was almost glad that she couldn’t understand because she was sure he was begging her to make it stop. Javi arched back over his partner’s arm, and Steve palmed his forehead, pressing the side of his face against his chest as he reached over his partner and forced his hip back down against the bed. 

The room was in chaos, Javi was screaming, Connie and Steve were shouting at him, both trying to hold him still as she pushed the last of the gauze into the wound, and then it all stopped. Javi went limp and quiet in Steve’s hold, and for one terrifying moment, they look at each other. 

“Did he just…” Steve started to ask. 

Sharing her husband’s fear that his partner just coded again, Connie’s eyes flicked up to the monitor, and she exhaled in relief, “No, thank God, no. He’s okay. Just passed out.”

Running a shaky hand over her brow, Connie noticed how Steve still held onto his partner as he watched her use a dry towel to wipe over Javier’s stomach. She dried up any lingering wetness from the saline and then covered the wound with a fresh dressing. 

Connie fixed the hospital gown and pulled the blankets up to Javi’s chest. Smoothing her hand over the covers, she gave him a sad smile and then stepped away and turned her back on the bed. Ripping off her gloves, she couldn’t hold in the sob that lurched up from her gut. The gloves got tossed into the trash and then Steve’s arms were wrapping around her, holding her so tight she could barely breathe. It’s not tight enough. 

Steve’s head dropped down onto her shoulder and he swayed with her as she cried. She has never had to put someone through so much pain before. Especially not someone close to her and Steve. 

“You’re fucking amazing, babe. You know that?”

Connie huffed in disbelief. With a thick voice, she spat out, “I just tortured your partner for over fifteen minutes straight.”

Spinning her around to face him, he grabbed her face, “You saved his damn life, Connie. No one around here was going to help him. You sure as hell know I couldn’t have done a damn thing. It’s all you, babe.” She started to pull away, but he stopped her, saying, “And later, when Javi’s feeling better and can make sense of everything that happened here tonight, he’ll tell you the same damn thing.”

Connie looked past her husband to the unconscious agent in the bed. Switching back to her husband, she pressed herself into his embrace and let the strength of his arms sap away her frazzled nerves. They remained like that for just another moment, before she pulled back and went over to the bed. She had to finish this. 

No longer shaking from the traumatic experience, Connie grabbed the vial of antibiotics with a firm hand and administered a dose into Javier’s IV line. Next, she gave him something for the fever, telling her husband, “I’ll keep watch over his vitals and keep up on his meds, but the rest of the fight is his, Steve.” Looking at Javier, she took his hand and held it, saying, “There is literally nothing more I can do.” 

“He will. He’s a tough son of a bitch, trust me,” Steve reassured as he put his arm around her and squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. She thanked her lucky stars for Steve. His steady hand and reliability in a crisis had helped pull Javier through the strain he’d just been put under, and she was so thankful that she had someone like Steve Murphy by her side. 

********

Javier drifted into consciousness slowly. Every part of his body hurt and ached. His head pounded furiously, and his side burned. The hospital room was dark and calm, and for one moment, he felt his heart clench. He had been left helpless and alone. Regardless of his earlier offer for the Murphys to pack up and go home, knowing how the hospital infrastructure had crumbled under the flow of injured from another one of Escobar’s bombs, Javier was less than confident about his ability to defend himself if he needed to. 

Laying there, he only had enough energy to open his eyes, and that spark of stamina had already faded as his lids fell shut without his consent. Javier couldn’t remember a time when he was this weak and powerless. Exhaustion pulled heavily against his efforts to move, to push up in the bed, to get up, to do anything that wasn’t just staying there, laid out, and useless. 

“Javier? Hey, it’s alright,” Connie’s gentle voice soothed, and the weight of her hand settled over his chest. 

The unexpected contact startled him enough that he got his eyes to open again and, glancing to his right, he saw Connie reclining beside him in the hospital bed. She was lying on her side and in the dim light, he made out her soft features. 

“Connie?” he murmured. His throat was dry and sore as his voice rasped the question. It felt like he was swallowing thumbtacks, and he winced around the discomfort. 

“It’s me. I’m here,” she soothed gently. Her voice was calm. Part of him hated how it eased his nerves to know she was there beside him. He remembered what he’d gone through earlier. He remembered the pain and how it seemed to drag on for hours, but he also knew she had probably saved his damn life. 

Now, his gaze slipped toward her again as the bed shifted while she reached behind and grabbed a Styrofoam cup. She held it up, asking, “Ice chips? Your throat sounds like it could use some.”

His pride almost had him turning her down over the embarrassment of being fed ice chips by his partner’s wife like he was a helpless infant, but with how weak he was right, then he doubted that he had the strength to hold the cup. Probably too weak to even lift his hand. 

He wasn’t dramatic as he thought about how he felt mostly dead—didn’t he legitimately die earlier… did he remember overhearing that at some point? If so, that would go a long damn way of explaining why he had barely enough energy to breathe.

“Javi?” Connie asked, bringing his attention back to her question, and he nodded, whispering, “Please.” 

Propped on an elbow beside him, Connie selected a piece of chipped ice and slipped it past his parted lips. Javier’s eyes closed around the soothing cold wetness as it dissolved in his mouth and trickled down his throat. It was the best thing he’d ever tasted as it relieved his parched mouth and scratchy throat, and then it was over much too quickly.

Connie seemed to read his mind, asking, “Another?” 

Eyes closed, he managed a weak nod, and then the cold of another piece was touched to his bottom lip. He opened his mouth enough for her to slip it past. They went through another two or three pieces when he forced his eyes open. Looking at her, his voice was still shaky as he asked, “Steve?” 

“Sleeping on a cot on your other side.”

“She wanted to flip for it,” his partner’s grumbling voice rose from his left, and Javier glanced over, “but I sure as hell wasn’t willing spoon with your obstinate ass.”

The corner of Javier’s mouth tugged upward into a grin, but beside him, Connie just sighed tiredly, “Steve. Shut up and go back to sleep.” 

Looking back at him, she offered him another piece, but he shook his head in decline. Again, his eyes fell closed of their own accord. They keep doing that. He thought as he felt Connie shift beside him. The cup landed on the table behind her, and she laid down again. 

Her hand landed on his shoulder, and he managed to crack his lids enough to look over. Connie’s voice was soft as she spoke, “Try not to worry. It’s crazy out there, but we’re both here, and we’re not leaving,” she reassured gently. Rubbing his shoulder, she told him, “You need to rest, Javi. Your body has been through so much strain today.”

His eyes slipped closed, but his body still held onto the tension. He couldn’t let it go when he didn’t trust his surroundings. He could tell Connie had picked up on this as she said, “It’s alright, Javi. We’ve got you. Everything’s going to be alright,” she soothed, and then her hand brushed over the side of his head. 

Her touch took him back to times when he was sick as a boy. His mother would sit with his head in her lap and run her fingers through his hair, just as Connie was now. He didn’t even register the sigh that passed through him as the tension started to melt away. 

*********

Connie watched Javier as his body relaxed beside her, and soon, his breathing slowed. She watched as it came and went with deep, even breaths, and she knew he’d finally found sleep, real sleep, and not just unconsciousness. 

Passing her touch over the side of his head again, she exhaled as she watched him fall deeper into the pull of a recovering slumber. It’s what he’s needed so badly to begin healing, and for the first time since things went south for the agent, she was starting to feel better about his prognosis. 

Steve was right. Javier was a fighter, and he would pull himself out of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! As always, rate and review!


	6. FUBAR

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A daring escape leads to consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovely readers! I'm so excited to be updating this story again! My co-author, itsagoodthing is so incredibly talented and was an incredible partner in crime writing this chapter! Enjoy!

Connie woke with the thought that she heard footsteps near the door. Lying still, her body tensed as her eyes snapped open. It took a moment, but her vision adjusted to the dim light as she checked on the injured agent beside her. Javi was still asleep. Looking past him, she could see the arm Steve had slung over the side of the cot. She couldn’t see much more without sitting up, but she could hear his deep breathing and the soft snore that surfaced every few breaths.

She didn’t want to risk disturbing Steve’s partner by moving, but something didn’t feel right, and Connie pushed to her elbow. The bed shifted under her weight the slightest, but it was enough for a frown to flash across Javier’s brow. Looking at him, Connie laid a hand over his forearm, silently reassuring him. That seemed to be enough because His features smoothed, and she looked across the room at the light spilling in under the door from the hallway beyond.

There were no shadowed feet standing on the other side like she was sure she’d see. It was a relief, but she still felt unsettled. Down the hall, she could hear someone calling for a nurse. Connie wondered if any of the medical staff had made it back up to the ward yet. Considering how they remained forgotten about, she doubted it.

Looking at the line of light shining off the shiny linoleum floor under the door, Connie decided she was just hearing things. Figuring she just picked up on the sound of someone walking past, she laid back down. After a few minutes, she was drifting off to sleep again, convincing herself that there was nothing to worry about.

A sound woke him from slumber. Or at least he thought it had. Javier’s pounding head and burning side were also pretty strong contenders for a rude awakening. Memories and dreams were muddling together in his mind and he found it was difficult to remember the details of past events. There was a shadowy figure beside the bed, rooting through the bottles of weak painkillers and antibiotics. He figured it was Connie and immediately hoped it was because she was getting another dose of pain medicine ready. The stuff she’d been giving him was hardly strong enough to cut through the stabbing fire in his side, but it helped, and right then he would take whatever he could get.

Javier would never admit to how Steve’s offer to procure illegal drugs had flirted him with temptation. He has never hurt so badly in his entire life, and pain was a highly effective means of bending a person’s will. Dose someone with it long enough with at just the right severity, and they’ll tell you anything you want to hear—whether it’s the truth or not—just to make it stop.

The funny thing was, if Javier knew his partner half as well as he thought he did, Steve had only been half-joking. He’d never tell Connie.

Javier realized he’d checked out in his thoughts. The rummaging continued, and then a vial knocked over. He felt Connie’s knee through the blankets as it brushed against his leg, and Javier’s eyes flew open. Whoever was on his left was not Connie. He looked over, and the shadow froze. Neither one moved for a moment He started to say something to alert Steve or Connie, but the person panicked and grabbed Javier by the throat, killing his voice.

Javier’s hands gripped the shadow’s arms, trying to dislodge their grip, but he was too weak to fight back. Before the monitor could start announcing his rapidly racing heartbeat, the shadow switched off the power. The grip around his throat tightened enough to where breathing started to become an issue. He couldn’t call for help and he couldn’t overpower them. For one horrible moment, Javier felt the claws of panic sinking into him as he feared he wasn’t going to survive this. He managed to nudge Connie’s leg hard enough that he heard her suck in a gasp.

She yelled, and Javier couldn’t even register how the sound pierced through his ear, slicing through the pounding in his head as the bed jolted from her jumping to her knees and shouting for Steve. She grabbed the shadow’s arms, trying to pry away the man’s hands from Javier’s neck.

The hands tightened, and Javier squeezed his eyes closed as he dragged in the little air he could. He heard his partner’s shout, followed by the familiar sound of fist colliding with flesh. The grip goes slack and then disappears completely, Javier slumped to the bed, gagging and coughing. At last, he could draw in a blessed full breath. It felt so good, he did it again, not even caring how much it made the pain in his side flare.

When Steve heard Connie scream, the immediate thought that slammed into him was: _Oh God, Javi’s dead._ Bolting up on the lumpy cot from hell, one of the last things he thought he’d see was Connie wresting with a guy trying to throttle his partner. Later, Steve wouldn’t remember flying off the cot and bolting forward. His mind failed to process that part. He would remember the feeling of decking the piece of shit hurting his partner and threatening his wife. He would remember the sound of his fist smashing into the intruder’s face, and he would remember how they had gone limp and he’d hauled them away from the bed before they could fall on top of Javier.

Throwing the guy to the floor, Steve landed on top of him. Straddling the man’s wait, he rained down blow after blow, ignoring the pathetic pleads they cried out in broken Spanish. They could have been apologizing or explaining, but Steve didn’t fucking care.

They stopped speaking and tried to fight back. They moved to throw Steve off, trying to get him onto his back, but Steve was quicker and gets his feet under himself, and then he was hauling both of them off the floor. Slamming the intruder against the wall, they managed to land a lucky punch to his jaw.

Steve grunted as his teeth crashed together from the force, and he thinks he might have bit his tongue in the process. Hauling back, Steve threw his weight behind the next throw and drove his fist into their face. Their head slams back against the wall, and they slumped in his grip. Steve let them drop while keeping a hold on their shirt and, dragging them across the floor, he walked to the door and flung the limp body out into the hall. 

Swinging the door closed, Steve locked it and then, just for good measure, shoved a chair up against the handle. Turning, he heard Connie talking in low tones with Javier. Touching his jaw, Steve worked it back and forth. Connie’s got the light on behind the bed, and he asked, “You guys okay, Connie?”

“I’m fine...” Sitting on the bed, she was peeling back the dressing to Javi’s packed wound. Steve was pretty desensitized to the gory details of Javier’s insides by this point and wasn’t shy about peaking over her shoulder to look. Connie told him, “He’s not bleeding again. I think we got lucky this time.”

She turned to the injured agent. “Javi? You alright?”

“Yeah,” he rasped hoarsely.

“Think you need the oxygen?” He shook his head feebly.

“Alright. Try to go back to sleep?”

Javier’s eyes landed on hers. Shining bright with fever, he looked at her, “Sleep?” He managed a fraction of a crooked grin, “Would you be able to sleep after something like that?”

Connie sat on the side of the bed and smiled. Taking his hand in hers, she countered, “Maybe, if I was as strung out as you are right now.” He didn’t argue, and Connie told him, “You’re beyond exhausted, Javi.” She gave his hand a light squeeze, “Steve and I will keep watch. We’ll keep you safe.”

Javier looked past her, eyes landing somewhere over her shoulder, and she figured Steve must have silently backed up her oath because then he looked back at her and his hand closed around hers a second before his eyes closed. 

Javier let his eyes drift shut but Connie could see the stress and pain in his face. They were right back to square one trying to get him calmed down and back to sleep. She sighed as she rubbed his arm gently, but she knew it was going to do very little. She looked up and saw Steve had moved to stand at the foot of the bed.Silently staring at his partner, he looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

“Steve,” Connie called, breaking her husband out of his thoughts. His eyes skipped to her, and she nodded toward the black screen of the monitor, “Care to turn that back on for me?” He stared at her for another second, like her request was still sinking in among the stress and register.

Blinking, he snapped to, and his hand dropped away from where it had been wringing the back of his neck, “Yeah. Yeah, sure.”

Flipping the switch back on, Steve watched the monitor warm up and flicker as it loaded his partner’s vitals. Four sets of wavy lines and stats started scrolling over the screen, and Steve watched. Then, he was pacing angrily as his hand covered his mouth. The rage in him was simmering upward into a boil.

Connie could see it on her husband’s face.

“What the fuck was that? Did you see that? They were going to fucking _kill_ him! Why the fuck would they do that!?” Steve was practically shouting now.

“Lower your voice, Steve,” Connie warned as Javier’s instincts tuned into part of his partner’s rant. She could tell he got dragged a little closer to the surface as his hand flinched around hers the slightest bit. Stroking her thumb lightly over Javi’s, she spoke low as she turned back to her husband, “This hospital has turned into a freaking jungle. You saw what I looked like when I got back from the ER. People are hurting and _dying,_ and they just keep bringing more in. There’s not enough space. There are not enough supplies here. This small hospital wasn’t meant for such carnage.”

“Well, I don’t fucking care!” Steve whispered through his anger. “Javier’s already knocking on death’s door—”

“Say it a little _louder_ , Steve,” Connie’s eyes flashed in warning. “I don’t think he quite heard you—”

“—and then someone just tried to strangle him!”

Javier was barely with it, but his vitals were steadily speeding up in tune with his partner’s outburst.

Connie moved up on the bed and reached for Javier. Her hand landed on his brow, then slipped down to touch the side of his face. The lines of tension started to ease, and she let her hand drop to his shoulder. Rubbing gently, she turned back to her husband, “Steve, I know you’re angry and upset, but you’ve got to calm down. _He’s_ got to calm down. His system can’t take any more stress.”

Steve huffed and sat down. He buried his face in his hands and took several calming breaths. “Okay, what are we going to do?”

“What do you mean?” his wife asked as she looked at him.

“We can’t stay here. That was just one guy. Next time there might be more. I’m pretty amazing, darling, but I can’t fight five guys at once. They are getting more desperate. Desperate people won’t hesitate to kill my partner, or us, to get the medication he’s on, DEA or not, Connie. We need to figure something else out.”

“Then I don’t see any other option, Steve.” Looking at him, she said, “We’re going to have to pack him up and leave.”

He cocked his head at that, “And go _where?”_

“Home, I guess. Unless you know of another hospital miraculously not affected by Escobar’s war.”

Steve’s mouth gaped open just a little bit, “You want to take my partner home?” Standing, he thrust out a hand, gesturing to the wounded man in the bed, “Him? The same guy that lost over thirty-five percent of his blood volume only twelve hours ago, who fucking crashed _three_ times, and spent over four hours on a damn operating table, flayed open like a deer getting a quick field dressing?”

Standing from the bed, Connie walked over to him and took his hands. She fixed him with a distinct look of stubborn confidence he was so familiar with and, right then, he knew they were doing this. Regardless, she drove that point home by stating, “You said it yourself, babe. Desperate people won’t hesitate to kill over the things they need. Considering we might have the last bit of pain medicine and antibiotics—two very hot commodities in a crisis—in the entire hospital? That probability grows stronger the longer we hang around here. Pretty soon, someone is going to figure out that we have the door locked for a very good reason.”

Sighing, Steve glanced toward the bed, and then his eyes closed in resignation. Connie squeezed his hands, “Look at it this way, what exactly is Javi getting here that he will miss out on by us taking him home?” She ducked into his view, “The top-notch medical care he’s been receiving so far? All those doctors and nurses watching out for him and making sure he’s making a suitable recovery?”

“Well, put it like that...”

She smirked at his grumbled words, “Right. The only thing that changes is that he’ll be safe. Knowing he’s safe, he’ll be able to let go and rest, because, sweetheart,” Connie’s hand raised to touch the side of his jaw, “he might be in and out of sleep here, but he’s not _resting_. He’s just checking out when his body can’t handle being awake anymore. That alone hacks away at the energy he needs to recover from something like this.”

Steve nodded in her hand. Taking it into his own, he kissed her knuckles and held it over his heart, saying, “Okay. I hear ya. Do you think it’s safe enough for you to go down there and pull the jeep around? Carrillo had it brought in. Said it was in spot 23-level D.”

Connie nodded, “I’ll just stick to the stairwells. I’ll be fine.” Grabbing her purse, she told him, “You stay here; keep him safe. I’ll be quick.”

Steve was moving around the room, shoving the supplies Connie had laid out into the backpack. He got most of the items by the sink packed and then grabbed the washbasin. Moving to the items on the tray table by the bed, he was loading it up when Javier woke. He watched him with a far-off gaze for a minute, and then frowned, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing much. Just getting the hell out of Dodge.”

Javi blinked at that, “Seriously?”

Setting vials of pain medicine carefully beside the extra bottles of saline, Steve nodded, “It’s not safe here anymore. Connie’s out pulling the jeep around to one of the side exits. We’re getting you out of here before we get a replay of the situation from just a few minutes ago.” Finished with his job, Steve sat on the side of the bed, “You’re going to come home with us, and Connie’s going to look after you until you’re back on your feet.”

Javier looked confused for a minute, then frowned and recoiled a little when it registered what he’d said. Steve hated to see him so out of it. It was the complete opposite of how quickly Javi usually read and responded to a situation. Shaking his head, Javi said, “Steve. No. That’s not necessary.”

“Yeah, partner, it is.”

Javier shook his head. “Come on, man. You don’t need to do that. I’m fine at my place. Just have Connie leave the good drugs.”

“That won’t work, and you know it.”

“Fine, then she can come to check up on me now and then, but I do _not_ need to stay with you, Steve.”

“Would you just shut up for five damn minutes!”

Javier was taken aback by Steve’s sudden outburst. He’d rarely seen Steve lose his cool, even in the most stressful of situations.

Then, Steve’s expression softened. “Man, you’ve got to stop that whole tough guy asshole thing. You need help, Javi. You’re sick and hurt, and you can barely move, let alone take care of yourself right now. There’s no shame in asking for help when you need it.” Steve stopped. He looked like he was debating over what to say next, and then gave him a hard look, stating, “Even if that means in the middle of a firefight.”

Javier shot Steve a look that was full-on Agent Peña, and Steve thought maybe he’d struck a nerve. He knew he had when his partner’s face turned stormy. Pushing himself up in the bed, Javi demanded, “Is this about what happened back at the fucking commune?”

Javier’s tone was nothing less than pisssed, and Steve’s lips thinned, “Maybe, yeah. Look, if that ass got the drop on you, Jav, it was not the time to be a hero or prove something.”

Peña nailed him with a hard glare, “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Pushing to his feet, Steve’s hands landed on his hips, “Would it would have killed you to drop your gun? Huh? To maybe surrender and let the prick get away—”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know you, man—”

“You don’t know _shit_ about me.” Javier shot back. Holding a hand to his side, he winced but didn’t back down.

“Don’t I?” Steve challenged, “I know you’re too fucking headstrong to back down from a challenge. Especially if it involves anything Pablo Escobar—”

Javi huffed in anger and looked away, shaking his head. Connie was going to kill him for getting Javier worked up. Still, Steve didn’t back down, “All I’m saying is you didn’t have to put your life on the line just to prove something—"

“It was a fucking kid!” Javier shouted and the room went silent for a full minute.

“What?” Steve asked, certain he’d heard wrong.

“You heard me; it was a fucking kid.”

“Javier, we’ve dealt with these young guys that Escobar’s employed before…”

“Steve, it was a _kid_ , no more than ten or eleven, who pointed a gun at me, told me to get fucked, and shot me,” Javier said. He looked Steve dead in the eye when he spoke, and his partner knew he was speaking the cold truth. Javier sighed as he rested his head back against the pillow

Feeling painfully drained, he let his eyes slip shut, stressing, “I _did_ drop my gun, Steve. I tried to talk him down; told him I didn’t want to hurt him. I’d never shoot a damn kid. I was unarmed when he pulled the trigger. I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything to stop it.”

Taking a careful breath, Javier found the energy to turn and look at his partner. He found Steve sitting on the side of the bed again; Javi never noticed the movement. He was so far off his game it was pathetic, and the thought settled in his mind that maybe he did need their help after all. Just for a little while, until he was over the worst of it. 

Steve sat patiently, watching him as he waited for him to continue. Swallowing, Javier refocused his thoughts on his partner, asking, “Remember how it looked when we burst into that house, and we saw Poison about to shoot that little girl point-blank? I could have prevented this, sure, but I will not become the very thing that we’re trying to stop.”

Steve shared a look of mutual understanding with his partner. Guilt prodded at his conscious. Javier had gone through everything in the last twelve hours because he wouldn’t back down from what he knew was right. His partner had always been like that.

He wasn’t sure what to say, but he felt like he needed to say something. He never got the chance as Connie pounded on the door, calling for him to let her in. Steve gave Javier a look that said they’d pick this back up at a later date, and then got up to let his wife in the door. Once she was safely inside, he once more locked it and propped the chair underneath the handle.

“Alright, boys, we need to make this quick. The sooner we’re out of here, the better.” She hurriedly measured out a small dosage of painkillers and injected directly into Javier’s arm rather than the IV. “That should at least keep the short walk from here to the jeep from killing you.”

“Glad to know that was a possibility,” Javier said wryly. His sarcastic tone was only a mere ghost of what it usually was.

“Jokes aside, this is going to be a bit intense. Connie sat on the side of the bed, “Having that wound packed is going to make any movements involving your torso extremely unpleasant. Once we get you up and moving, you might start to feel nauseous and lightheaded. Even after the transfusions, your body is still trying to catch up on the blood you’ve lost. You need to let me know if those symptoms get any worse, alright?” Javier nodded, and she took a calming breath. “Alright. I’m going to disconnect you now.”

Connie turned off the monitor keeping track of his vitals before carefully removing the electrodes from his chest and the oxygen clamp from his finger. Looking at the IV site, she clamped off the clear tubing and unhooked the port by his wrist, “I’m just going to wrap this up in a little bit to keep it from getting snagged on anything until we get back to the apartment.” Winding a length of gauze around the short piece of IV tubing at his wrist, she told him, “That way, I won’t have to stick you again to start a new IV.”

Javier watched her tape off the gauze, “The fewer needles the better.”

Steve cocked an eyebrow, “You got a thing about needles, Jav?”

“No, Steve,” Javier dragged out. “I just don’t go actively searching out opportunities to get stuck by them.”

Ignoring the bantering, Connie’s eyes moved worryingly to where the surgeons had operated. She would have loved to put new stitches in, ensuring that the movement wouldn’t start up the bleeding again, but it wasn’t time yet. They’d have to change out the soaked gauze packed in the wound tomorrow. It’s not something she was looking forward to and she hoped by then things might go a little more smoothly for them. She didn’t want to have to cut into Javier Peña ever again.

“Alright. We’re about ready to go,” Connie announced once she’s satisfied with her work.

“Are we taking the monitor and the IV stand?” Steve asked curiously.

“Steve now is not the time for one of your jokes,” Connie said with an eye-roll.

“No, I’m serious. We need them both if we’re going to turn our bedroom into a hospital room. We’ll just... ‘borrow’ it,” Steve said, using air quotes. “Consider it payment for the shitty medical care Javier’s gotten since he arrived here.”

“They did patch him up. And restart his heart—twice,” Connie pointed out, but she was already unplugging the monitor from the wall and wrapping up cords.

“So? If you hadn’t done anything, he would have died regardless of what they did for him when he arrived. It’s null and void now,” Steve said with a shrug.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Look at you, a man of the law, bending the rules and stealing medical supplies,” Javier quipped jokingly from the bed. His voice was strained, and Steve could tell Javier was cutting jokes to hide the pain.

“All because of you, princess. Now come on, let’s get you out of this hellhole,” Steve replied as he walked to the bed. Carefully he slid his arm under Javier’s shoulders so that the man wouldn’t have to use too much of his upper body and gently lifted him into a sitting position. Javier grimaced violently as he pressed his arm against his side like he was trying to hold his guts in.

“Easy, Javi. I’ve got you,” Steve reassured gently. He didn’t like any of this one bit, but it had to be done.

“Wait! Before he stands up, help him get this on,” she said, tossing Steve a pair of gray sweatpants from the backpack.

“Are these my sweats?” Steve asked, and Javier shot him a look.

“Yeah. Here’s a T-shirt too. He can’t leave in that flimsy gown,” Connie pointed out as she tossed the shirt to Steve.

“She has a point, Steve. It’s already a madhouse out there. Don’t want to rile those nurses up further with the sight of my bare ass,” Javier joked weakly and Steve snorted.

Connie shot them both a look. “Javier, if you weren’t looking like death warmed over, I’d smack you. Now, quickly, Steve, help him get dressed. We’ve got to get out of here.”

Steve cocked his eyebrow at Javier. “Well, you and I are about to become real good friends here, pal.”

“I thought we were friends already,” Javier said in a mockingly sweet voice, and Steve rolled his eyes.

Once Javier was dressed, Steve helped him with his shoes and eased him to stand up slowly. Javier wobbled unsteadily on his feet. His legs shook from the exertion of standing after lying down for so long and for a minute his head spun.

“Javi? You alright?” Connie asked nervously. She was starting to think that maybe this wasn’t a good idea. Javier looked small and almost child-like in the sweatpants and shirt that were a bit too large for him.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just trying to get my land legs,” Javier wheezed breathlessly, trying to put Connie at ease. She wasn’t very reassured.

“Alright, let’s get going,” she said, ushering them out of the room

The little trio made their way down the hall as fast as they dared. Trying to look casual with a cart full of medical supplies and a ghost of a man was difficult. They were only three doors down when Javier breathed out a sharp hiss, and then he and Steve were stumbling to a stop.

“What is it?”

Steve’s question had Connie spinning around to look at the two agents. If Javier looked bad laying in bed, he looked positively dreadful now. Pale, clammy, and breathing hard as his face pulled tight around the pain, Connie walked up and got into his personal space, “Talk to me, Javi. Pain? Dizzy? Nauseous? What’s going on?”

He looked like he was trying to swallow down something that shouldn’t be coming up. Without looking at her, his voice was hoarse as he answered, “All of the above.”

Her hand touched his arm, “Can you make it? If not, tell me. Steve and I can rig something up and carry you out of here.”

Javi’s eyes cracked open and she could see how terrible he felt. He seemed to seriously consider the offer for a moment, then asked, “How far?”

Steve answered for her, “Another thirty feet to the elevator and then maybe twenty more out the side door. If you can’t do this, you tell me.” Javi closed his eyes and nodded. “Hey,” Steve added, “No more tough-guy asshole routine, remember?”

The snippet of their earlier conversation was delivered with a joking tone and Javier responded with a breathy weak chuckle. “Right.” Looking back at them, he said, “I’m okay. I can make it.” Connie challenged his statement with a hard look, and he told her, “If that changes, I’ll let you know.”

“Okay,” She seemed satisfied enough at the compromise. “C’mon—oh! Shit, Steve. The baby. We can’t leave her here!”

“I know, honey. Don’t worry.” He answered on a grimace as he took on as much of his partner’s weight as he could. His voice was strained as he got them moving again, “We’ll go back for her, but right now we have to get him lying down and get that stuff to the car before someone fights us for it,” Steve reassured.

Connie nodded. Steve was right. Javier continued to breathe hard, looking ghostly pale under the fluorescent lighting in the hallway. She loathed making him walk, but there hadn’t been a spare wheelchair in sight. Probably all swallowed up by the hoards of wounded, just like every other damned resource in this place. Without another word, they continued on their way down the hall.

Nearing the elevator, Javier stifled a yell, doing his best to keep up with Steve’s pace. Every step sent a shooting pain up his side powerful enough to take his breath away. Keeping a hand pressed to the wound, he prayed that he wasn’t as close to passing out as it felt.A part of him wished he would, just so he didn’t have to feel it anymore. Steve was pulling him against his side, keeping him on his feet, but that only made the pain worse.

Javier’s vision grayed out for a moment, and he felt like he was going to be sick. He almost told them to stop, having the thought that he was wrong, he couldn’t make it, but then he dug a little deeper and forced himself to focus; focus on the door in front of them, focus on keeping up with Steve. It became a running mantra in his mind.

They were nearly there when Steve heard shouts. Craning his head past the arm slung over his shoulder, he looked them behind. Men in blood-stained scrubs gestured to them while running down the hall, closing in. It was a picture straight out of a horror movie. Figures, Steve thought, now a fucking doctor shows up.

One doctor caught up with them and grabbed the cart Connie was pushing with a firm hand.

“Back the fuck off!” Connie growled, trying to wrench the doctor’s hand away. He gave her a hard shove, and Steve barked, “Hey!”

Drawing his gun, he pulled back the hammer. The doctor’s hands shot in the air and holding Javi against himself, Steve aimed, ordering, “Backup.”

The doctor raised his hands higher but froze on the spot. Staring down the barrel, Steve gestured with his gun, “Backup.”

Javier’s head lolled against his neck. His partner’s panting breaths fell in clipped bursts against his collar as the doctors took a step back. Steve circled him and Javier around. “Backup,” he told them a third time.

They seemed to have caught onto the meaning behind the word now as they both took a few steps back. The elevator chimed behind him, and the doors opened. Connie pushed the cart inside, and Steve maintained his aim as he back his partner into the elevator with him. He didn’t lower his gun until the doors slid shut and the car started to drop. 

Shoving the gun back into his waistband, Steve grabbed Javi who was busy sliding toward the floor. Gathering him in both arms, Steve pulled him back to his feet. Javier cried out from the movement, and Steve flashed a look at Connie, “You parked the jeep right by the door, right?”

She nodded quickly, “As long as someone didn’t steal it.”

The elevator jostled as it found the first floor and the doors parted. “C’mon, Peña.” Steve slipped his arm over his neck again. “You got this, man. Twenty more steps. Door’s right there. I got eyes on the jeep.”

He looked down and saw a look of detached determination in his partner's glazed eyes. He was zeroing in on the target. It was the best he could do. Steve got it, and kept coaching, “Almost there. You got this, man. C’mon.”

Whether it was Steve’s coaching or Javier’s sheer force of will, the group made it to the jeep. Steve could feel Javier shaking in his arms. Connie took the medical equipment and started to load it into the trunk while Steve hauled Javier to the back. He was struck by déjà vu as he helped his partner lay down in the back seat. The blood still wasn’t cleaned up, but Connie had laid out a blanket over the ruined upholstery. Steve knew the blood was there, though. Even if they couldn’t see it, it still made him feel sick to his stomach.

“Alright, stuff’s all loaded up, I’m going back for the baby. You stay here and keep an eye on him,” Connie directed. She didn’t wait for Steve to answer as she took off and re-entered the hospital.

Connie ran breathlessly into Salome’s room to find her playing with the baby on her bed. The child was giggling and squealing with delight. It was such a calm picture compared to what Connie had endured over the past few hours.

“Oh, Connie dear! What brings you here?”

“I don’t have a lot of time. We’re taking my husband’s partner out of here. He was attacked. It’s not safe here for us,” Connie explained hurriedly as she gently picked the baby up. “Thank you so much for watching her. You have no idea how much it helped.”

“Well, I’m glad you were satisfied with my services because I’m coming with you,” Salome said as she got up and jammed her feet into her slippers.

“Oh, really that’s-“

“Nonsense, dear!” Salome exclaimed, cutting Connie off. “You need me. If you’re going to be looking out for that young man, you’ll need someone to watch over the baby. Besides, I’m perfectly healthy. If he’s checking out, so am I. I’m not going to stay in this madhouse and get chewed to bits by crazy people,” she said as she made her way to the door. Connie didn’t have time to argue. Every minute they wasted was another Javier was suffering in the back of that jeep. She conceded and followed the old woman out.

********

Steve looked over his partner worriedly. Javier was not doing well. His breath came in shuddering breaths as pain creased his face. Steve spotted a few red spots on Javier’s shirt and he swore under his breath. He turned from the jeep and saw Connie with the baby in her arms and Salome exiting the hospital in a rushed fashion.

“Alright. Let’s get out of here. Steve, you’re sitting on the floor beside Javi so you can monitor him,” Connie directed.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Connie?” He pulled Connie aside. “Why is she coming?” He asked, gesturing at Salome, who was climbing into the front seat.

“Because she is. Now shut up and get in the back. I do not have time to explain right now. I’m not making Javi suffer more than he has to,” Connie said in a clipped tone. She felt stressed, and the pressure to get Javier settled properly was weighing on her.

“Is there anyone else you’d like to invite to our home, Darlin’ before we go? Maybe that asshole I beat up earlier?” Steve asked sarcastically as he climbed into the back and crouched down on the floorboard.

Connie rolled her eyes but didn’t comment. “Alright, everyone buckled up?” When she received enough affirmative answers to satisfy her, she started the ignition, put the jeep in gear, and drove away. “Steve? How’s he looking back there?” She called.

Steve looked at his partner, who looked pale and shaky. He noticed his hand was clamped firmly to his side. “Javier? You doing alright?”

“Yeah. Just dandy,” Javier gasped out, his face drawn tight with pain. The painkiller Connie had given him was virtually useless at the moment as the car bumped down the road, heading for the highway.

“I know. Just hang tight. This is all going to be over in a second,” Steve reassured as he grabbed Javier’s hand. He begged silently that they would get home soon. He was afraid this ride was going to kill Javier, and this time there would be no way to save him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooooo we do sure love some good Javi whump. As always, rate and review!


	7. In These Quiet Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Connie sit vigil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovelies! Last angsty chapter before the end! We are so overwhelmed by the amount of support this fic got. As always, I dedicate this note to my lovely friend itsagoodthing. She’s a talented writer so please go see her stuff if you are looking for more wonderful things to read. Enjoy!

Steve thought the ride to the apartment was taking twice as long as it usually did. It felt the road was stretching in an endless loop and they would continue to drive until the end of time. He looked at his partner. Javier was pale and clammy once more. Steve had no idea the brief amount of time off the medication and fluids would do so much damage to his partner.

"Javier? You still with me?" Steve asked gently

"Where else could I possibly go?" Javier ground out through gritted teeth. His eyes were squeezed shut and his hand was firmly clamped to his wound. Sweat was rolling down his face in little rivers. A weak cough pulled itself from his lungs.

"Just hang on, alright? We're going to get you home, Connie is going to fix you up, and you'll be back to your usual asshole self." Javier didn't respond to the ribbing, just grimaced and turned his face into the blanket covering the seat.

Connie could hear her husband talking to Javier. He sounded like he was trying to reassure himself more than his partner and her heart ached. She had a car full of lives counting on her and she just didn't see how she was going to keep her promises to everyone.

At last, after what felt like years of driving, the car pulled off to the side of the narrow street in front of the Murphy's apartment. Connie turned off the vehicle and turned in her seat to look at the two agents in the back. Javier looked like a trembling ghost. She looked to her husband.

"Steve, you're gonna have to carry him up the stairs. There's no way he's going to make it up there. I'll meet you there with the equipment," she said and Steve nodded as he pulled himself off the floorboard and swung open the door.

Climbing out, he turned to face his partner. "Alright Javier. Gotta do this one last time and then I won't ever do it again." He carefully scooped Javier up in his arms, taking care not to disturb the wound any further than it already was. Javier trembled and writhed in Steve's arms as he pulled him from the car as carefully as possible. A clipped cry pulled from his partner's throat, and Steve shook his head in sympathy, "Hang in there, man. We're so close to getting you settled. You'll be doing better soon. Just hang on," Steve encouraged as he got Javier out of the jeep and picked him up. Javier didn't complain, protest or attempt to make it on his own, and the fact of that hit Steve with about ten different degrees of wrong.Trying not to jostle his wounded partner too badly, he trudged up the stairs.

Finally, he got to the door, fumbled for the knob, and opened the apartment. Javier let out another cry as Steve carried him into the apartment, past the living room, into the bedroom. He set his partner on the edge of the bed and stepped back trying to collect himself. Steve had always been in great shape but trying to carry his fully grown partner and all his dead weight up a flight a stairs had been more taxing than he thought.

"Steve," Javier rasped in a wavering voice.

"Hang on man. Trying to catch my breath," Steve panted.

"Gonna be sick."

The look on his partner's face confirmed his words and Steve had just enough time to bolt to the master bathroom, grab the trashcan, and race back to the room where he thrust it into Javier's hands.

The injured agent gripped the trashcan with crushing force as his stomach emptied itself. Each heaving retch brought fresh pain in his abdomen and Javier thought his insides were going to rip. He felt a gentle hand on his back, reassuring him. Steve was trying to offer some words of comfort, coaxing him through it, but they were lost on him as he heaved painfully again and again.

Connie entered the room with the equipment just as Javier finished. Steve grabbed both the can and Javier as he slumped to the side. Panting brokenly, his partner clutched his stomach, moaning with a weary, clipped sound as Steve laid him back. The room was spinning and it hurt to breathe. 

"Javier? You alright?" Connie asked worriedly though she already knew the answer. She was sure the time off of fluids was exacerbating his nausea. 

"I'm sorry. It was just too much," Javier panted. His face was nearly as white as the sheets he laid on. Sweat was already starting to roll down his face.

"No need to be sorry. You lost a lot of blood. I'm just sorry I had to move you," Connie said wistfully as she brought the equipment to the side of the bed and began to set it up. The sooner they got Javier reconnected, the more comfortable he would be.

Steve went to action pulling the blankets back and helping Javier pull his damp tee-shirt off. By the time he was lying down Connie was ready.

She once again connected Javier to the monitors mapping out his heartbeat and oxygen levels. They weren't great, but better than she expected them to be given the circumstances. Next, she unwrapped the IV port and connected the tube from the IV stand they'd stolen.

"There, that's all set. You should feel the nausea start to fade. You shouldn't need another dose of painkillers for a couple of hours or so. I'll monitor that," she said gently. "And now I'm just going to check the wound really quick. Steve said you were bleeding again."

Sure enough, there were red spots on the bandage and Connie let out a frustrated sigh. Steve saw the look of distress on her face.

"What? What's wrong?" Steve's voice held an edge of apprehension.

"I can't let him keep bleeding. He doesn't need to lose anymore, and I have absolutely nothing to replace it with. I'm going to have to go ahead and remove the packing and put stitches in him."

"No…" the weak voice from the bed grabbed her attention and her eyes moved to Javier's pale, sweat-soaked face. There was a look of anguish in his glassy eyes. "Please, Connie."

Steve was taken aback. He'd never heard his partner beg for anything ever. Javier had a way of sweet-talking his way into everything but here his partner was, a shell of a man now, begging to be free from the pain and suffering he was in.

"I'm so sorry Javi but I have to do this. I don't have a choice. You're bleeding."

"Please, Connie. I—I can't…" Javier's weak voice cracked in his dry throat and his breath hitched painfully.

Connie could sense the panic and desperation in him as she sat beside him. She knew what he meant. He couldn't be strong anymore. He couldn't pretend that what she was putting him through wasn't slowly killing him. He couldn't keep up the charade that he could get through this by sheer force of will. Every last shred of his strength and resolve had been drained from him.

"Javi," she said gently, resting her hand on his face. "I have to do this. I'm so sorry that it has to be this way but I can't just let you lay there and bleed. Your body can't handle that. I'll be quick ok? But it has to be done. Then you can rest. I promise. This will be the last of it."

Javier said nothing but Connie could see the pure anguish in his eyes. She turned away and went to grab the container of saline she stole from the hospital and pull on a pair of latex gloves.

Javi's eyes slid shut. Steve watched him move a hand to his face and pinch the bridge of his nose. His breathing kicked up a notch. He was anticipating what was to come. Running a hand over his face, Steve looked at Connie and then back to his partner. Both of them were suffering.

Connie was struggling to deal with the pain she had been forced to inflict on Javier. That sorry excuse for a hospital would have let him lay there and die. He kept trying to get Connie to see that, but all she saw was how everything she did made him hurt worse than he already did. Javier was struggling to just fucking exist at this point. It had been too much for any one person to have to go through in a single day. Both of them were suffering, and nothing he said or did made one damn bit of difference.

Steve eased onto the side of the bed beside his partner. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know if anything he said would make Javier feel better or comfort him. At this point, he highly doubted it. So, instead he patted his friend's shoulder comfortingly as Connie walked over with the container.

"Alright, Javi. I'm gonna start now. I'll pour a little bit to loosen the packing and pull it out as carefully as I can." She didn't wait for any confirmation and started to gently pour the saline over the wound. It wouldn't have made a difference anyway.

Javier let out a pained groan. Steve grabbed his shoulder, squeezing it hard, hoping it would give him something else to focus on. 

"I know, Javi. Hang in there. I'm going as fast as possible." Connie wanted to squeeze her eyes shut and block out the scene before her. It was awful and not a situation she thought she'd ever find herself in but she had to pay attention as she poured the saline gently over the packed gauze pad with one hand and gently started to pull at the fabric with the other.

Javier flinched and Steve moved to hold him down, but something was different this time. Rather than fighting back against the pain and Steve's hold, Javier laid limply as his chest moved with his desperate pants for breath. Rather than screams, a few broken whimpers pulled themselves from Javier's throat. He stared up at the ceiling with a glazed overlook and Steve tried to swallow the sick panicky feeling that was building inside of him.

Javi wasn't fighting anymore. He was accepting and succumbing. He could practically feel Javier slipping away underneath his hands. Connie freed part of the gauze from the wound and Javi's eyes squeezed shut against the pain, forcing silent tears down his sweaty face. His breaths stuttered around a choked gasp, and Steve found himself cupping his partner's face gently.

"Hey, Javi? Hey, it's alright. It's going to be ok, brother," he said softly. "Look at me, Javi. Jav, look at me, partner." Steve knew he sounded desperate, but fuck, he knew the look he was seeing in Javier's eyes. He'd seen it a hundred times in the eyes of the victims that lay dying before they could get them help. It was a soft look colored by defeat and regret.

Javier dragged his eyes over to land on Steve. He didn't say anything. Looking at him, he was showing him all his pain. Connie did something out of Steve's line of sight and Javi's brow pulled together. Pain crinkled the corners of his eyes and a muffled whimper pushed from his lungs. Still he didn't move. He didn't fight against the pain. He didn't try to get away from it like he had at the hospital, and Steve was terrified that his partner was losing the battle.

"Hey," Steve told him. Brushing a hand over his partner's head, his soft actions were a stark contradiction to the steel in his voice, "Listen to me, Javi. You listening?"

Javier only reaction to him was a slow blink. Still he stared.

Steve swallowed around a dry throat, "You. Javier. You are pulling through this. You're not some little Sicario bitch. You're strong. You're fucking United States DEA, and we don't roll over so easily. Yeah?"

Another flinch passed over Javi's face, but that's all. He didn't still didn't respond and Steve lost all his will to keep up the tough guy act. Maybe he was getting just as desperate as his partner, because the words that came out of his mouth next, was nothing but a straight-up plea.

Running a hand over Javier's head again, he grabbed his hand. Squeezing hard enough to engage the muscles in his arm, he fucking begged. "Don't leave yet okay, brother? We've still got work to do. Just keep breathing for me Javi. Okay? That's all I'm going to ask of you. Just keep breathing. Forget about everything else. There's nothing else you have to do right now. Right? Nothing else. Just keep breathing for me, man."

Connie pulled the rest of the gauze free from the wound and pressed a clean cloth against the incision. "Steve, hold this here while I get the local and stitches ready,"

Steve looked down at her and then back at his partner. Javier was still staring at him, but perhaps there was a little more to it than just a stare of a dying man. Maybe there was just a little bit more light in his eyes than just a moment ago.

"Steve." Connie urged him and he looked between her and Javier again. There was this ridiculous part of him that was terrified to move. He was afraid that if he let go, then Javier would let next. "Hey." Squeezing his partner's hand again, he told him, "I gotta go help Connie a second. Okay. Keep breathing, Javi. Remember, that's all you gotta do right now. We're right here and the worst of it is over. Yeah? Just keep breathing."

Listening to her husband trying to talk Javier into staying in this world for a while longer was tearing out her damn heart and Connie looked away. Tears rolled down her face and she held her breath to keep either of them from cluing in to the fact that she was seriously starting to lose her shit. All of this was so much more than she had signed up for when she became a nurse. Part of her knew everything she'd done had been necessary. Part of her knew she'd done everything right. The other part of her was terrified that after everything they were still going to lose Javier.

Stopping her thoughts right there, She scrubbed a shoulder against the side of her face as Steve came down by her. His hand landed over the one she held against Javi's stomach and she slipped her hand out. Standing up she didn't look at the bed as she wiped her face and distanced herself from the desperate man in the bed. She had to finish this and if she dwelled any further on how utterly broken Javier looked she wouldn't have the strength to continue.

Steve took her place and pressed down on the incision site gently. Javier jerked helplessly under his hand and let out an exhausted cry. At least it was a reaction. Once more he found himself keeping blood inside his partner's body. Connie returned in a few minutes with a suture, surgical thread, and a syringe full of the local which she didn't hesitate to inject into the injured agent. She waited quietly for a few minutes to ensure it had kicked in before she took a deep breath.

"Alright, I'm going to start stitching this up. He shouldn't feel it, just ... make sure he doesn't move." Connie directed her husband before she got to work trying to patch Javier back together. She honed her focus in on the needle working itself in and out of Javier's skin under her nimble fingers, pulling the thread tight and closing up the wound.

She was so focused on her work she almost missed her husband suddenly go rigid out of the corner of her eye.

"Javi? JAVIER!" Steve called to his partner.There was utter fear in his voice.

"Talk to me Steve. What's wrong?" Connie hoped she didn't sound short but she had to get these stitches perfect or they might as well just let Javier bleed out.

"H-he just, blacked out," her husband said in a shaky voice.

"I think he's had enough, honey. I don't think he could physically take anymore," Connie said as she finished and snipped the thread. She applied a bandage over the wound.

"Fuck, Connie. What if we killed him? What if that was too much for him?" Steve's eyes were full of anxiety. Connie glanced at Javier's vitals.

"His vitals are holding steady. He's been through too much. I really think his body shut down so he could heal."

"I—I need him to fucking pull through this. Connie, last time we talked I blamed him for all this happening, and it wasn't even his fault! A fucking kid shot him!"

Connie grabbed her husband's arms. She'd never seen him look so pale and stressed.

"Steve, I need you to look at me," she said as his eyes settled on her and he took a trembling breath.

"He's going to be just fine. Look, see?" She said as she pointed to Javier's monitors. "His vitals are holding steady. He just needs some rest."

Steve nodded. He took a few breaths and seemed moderately calm. "Now, why don't you make him comfortable while I sort everything else out and make a list of what we need. This house went from two people to five in an instant and we're going to need a few things if we're going to take care of everyone. Only one blanket for him though. We've got to get that fever to break."

Steve nodded as his wife gave him one more reassuring look before she left the room. Steve walked to the bed and made sure the pillows were arranged in a way so that Javier would not wake with a crick in his neck. Because he would wake up. He had to. He pulled the sheet over his unconscious partner. Even though he was unresponsive his body still trembled with the fever.

"Get some sleep brother. You'll be alright after you rest," he said softly.

Steve left the room quietly and entered the living-room. His wife was bent over the table with a pen and piece of paper, writing intently. He sat in the chair beside her. She wrote a few more things and then looked up at him.

"Alright. I've made a shopping list. We need sleeping bags or something so people have a place to sleep. We need a few more baby items including one of those collapsible cribs and we are going to need a lot more in our fridge than take-out. People are going to need to eat so I added some food items on there too. Ok?

"You sure you don't want to do this and take a little break away from all this?" Steve asked as he took the list from her.

"Someone with some medical knowledge needs to stay here just in case. I'll be fine, Steve. I promise."

Steve nodded but Connie could tell he wasn't convinced. However, they'd been married long enough for him to know when not to argue with her. "Alright, honey. I'll get all this stuff. Please call me if anything changes alright?"

Connie nodded in the affirmative as he leaned forward and kissed her forehead before grabbing the list, shoving his shoes on, and exiting the apartment. Connie sighed and got to her feet. She had a job to do. Javier was priority number one.

********

Steve had been gone nearly an hour and a half and Javier hadn't so much as budged. Connie guessed she should be thankful. His breathing remained steady and much deeper than earlier. But that also meant he was completely unconscious. Sighing, Connie popped the thermometer in her patient's ear, begging silently to herself that maybe it had gone down now that he had time to rest quietly. She knew of course that his fever remained dangerously high. His skin was hot and dry to the touch and she got the horrible image of a pile of dry sticks just on the verge of catching fire.

For some reason though, she felt that if she could just reduce his condition to numbers and figures, it would be more manageable. The thermometer started beeping and she inspected it. She was too distracted to hear the door to the bedroom quietly open. Her face was grim as she read the result: 104 degrees.

"Everything alright, dear?" Connie turned and saw Salome entering the room quietly. She nodded.

"It's just, well his fever is still way too high and I don't understand why it won't come down. He's on medication and I'm doing all I can." Gesturing at the agent beside her, Connie stared at him, wide and unblinking, unable to stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth.

Salome said nothing as she disappeared into the master bathroom. Connie heard the faucet run for a few seconds before shutting off. Salome reappeared with a damp cloth in her hand and sat on the side of the bed before gently wiping down Javier's face and neck. Javier didn't so much as flinch and Connie felt worry dig a deep trench in her chest.

"Don't worry, Connie. The mind and the body are far wiser than our own will sometimes. The fever will come down all in due time. Wiping the cloth down the inside of Javi's arm, she continued her ministrations. "Tell me about him."

"I don't know much. Steve could probably tell you more. They've been partners for a few months now. Up until recently I've only known Javier in passing. They work for the DEA."

"Ah so I take it they've been involved with Pablo and his dealings."

Connie nodded in the affirmative. 

"How did he get this way?"

Connie sighed. "Steve told me they had followed some hitmen into a commune. A-apparently a kid shot Javier so the man could get away. Trying to talk the kid down, Javier had disarmed himself, he couldn't defend himself. He would never hurt a kid."

Salome's face grew somber as her gaze drifted back to Javier. Connie noted that her elderly eyes had grown misty.

"My son, Joseph, died almost thirty years ago. He was only a few years younger. I had him when I was about eighteen. Next to Ernest, he was my whole world and I loved him so much."

"H-how did he die, if you don't mind me asking," Connie said cautiously.

"He had gone to a bar to celebrate getting a new job. Two men were fighting and one was getting really heated and beating up on the other. He tried to step in and intervene and the man killed him. Stabbed him to death right there in the bar. He was just trying to do the right thing." Connie was stunned into silence. There were no words to describe how she felt at the moment. Salome looked at her earnestly. "Do everything you can for him. Good men shouldn't have to die standing up for what's right."

Connie nodded. "I'm trying as hard as I can. And he's fighting too. I just wish I could do more." Salome patter her hand reassuringly.

"Don't worry dear. You're doing all you can. Don't beat yourself up. He'll come around when he's ready." Connie nodded again. It felt like she'd done that so many times today she was turning into a bobblehead but she couldn't find it in herself to say anything positive at the moment. Salome gave her another reassuring smile before she shuffled out of the room.

********

Steve returned with his arms full of supplies. He felt tired and distracted and for a moment he felt like he'd walked into the wrong apartment when he crossed the threshold of his home. This couldn't be his life. There was a baby here, who'd been orphaned by some vile men and his partner, daresay his friend was lying just beyond the door to his bedroom, in his bed, quite possibly dying. Everything felt surreal as he set the groceries down and started to put the food away almost mechanically.

"Your wife had the same look on her face earlier." Steve looked up to see Salome joining him in the kitchen with the baby on her hip.

"How is she?" Steve asked softly.

"Tired. Frustrated with herself. Worried."

"Yeah. I know the feeling," Steve huffed. "Just wish he'd turn that corner. I thought everything was going to be alright when he woke up in the hospital but then the doctor never came, and he just got worse and now…" He stopped. He couldn't bring himself to voice his fears about Javier's fate out loud. They had been running through his mind since they brought the injured agent back to the apartment.

"Go be with your wife. Sit with her awhile. You two can hold each other up in times like these. Having someone you love by your side is important for keeping up strength and hope. I can manage the rest. I'm here to help you, not be a burden," Salome urged, taking a can of corn Steve was trying to unpack gently from his hand and shooing him in the direction of the bedroom. Steve nodded and left the kitchen.

******

Connie's eyes flew open and she sucked in a sharp breath. Looking to her right, she took in the motionless agent in the bed beside her. Her exhausted mind reeled for a moment, trying to remember how long she'd been out. The last thing she remembered was talking with Steve. Did she even remember her husband leaving? He'd sat vigil with her after he'd gotten home from shopping and the rest of the evening seemed like some exhausted blur. Looking around she took in the darkness of the room. Who turned off the lights? Shit, she was seriously losing her grip. She didn't know what day it was, what time it was,or how long she'd been out.

Looking to her other side, she squinted, blinking to bring the fuzzy numbers on Steve's alarm clock into focus. 3:52am. Shit Connie pushed herself up in the bed. Rubbing her hands over her face, she forced herself to wake up. Sitting on the side of the bed, Connie stretched a kink out of her neck and got up. She walked up to Javier on his side of the bed and switched on the lamp. The soft glow didn't reveal anything promising.

Lying deathly still, he looked just like he had a few hours ago. Taking his temperature, Connie sighed. 103.8. It was an improvement, sure, but not really enough to make a difference. With how long he'd been on the antibiotics and with the IV fluids they were still pumping into him, it should have been a full degree lower by now. Why wasn't it working? What was going on? Did she miss a section of abscessed tissue—No.

Connie stopped her thoughts right there. She hadn't. If she knew anything, she knew that. With as terrible as the procedure had been for the downed agent, she had made damn sure to do everything right. Everything was by the book. Even with him laying there, suffering at the work of her hands, she hadn't rushed. She'd forced herself to be meticulous in her work because she sure as fuck wasn't going to be putting either of them through that for a second time.

No. The abscess tissue had been completely removed. 100%. Move on, girl. Figure this out. It's something else. Sighing, Connie refused to think about how tired she was as she sat beside Javier on the bed. Taking his hand in hers, she squeezed. Her other hand started rubbing up and down his arm in absentminded, light strokes as she ran the situation through her mind.

A few minutes later found her exactly where she started. No great relations revealed, she got up and went to the kitchen. Pulling out a few ice cubes from the tray, she crushed them and slipped them into a cup.

"Javi?" Connie heard the tremor in her voice and took a steadying breath. Even if he was unconscious, he could still be semi-aware of what was going on around him. Strong voices, positive vibes. Connie repeated that to herself and tried again. "Hey, Javi. I need you to tune in to me for a little bit. Okay?" She ran her hand over his arm again, "I know you're tired. I know you've been through a terrible experience today. It's okay to sleep and rest, but you need to surface every now and then."

Picking up a piece of the chipped ice, she leaned forward, running it over his lips. "Open up for me, Javi." He didn't move. The sliver of ice melted between her fingers. Cool drops land on his neck, trickle down the corner of his mouth, down the side of his face, and nothing.

Connie picked up another piece. "Come on, Javier. Just one tiny piece. You don't even need to wake up all the way. Just open your mouth for me. Just a little bit." She ran the ice along his lips again, "Just come around enough to take this little piece of ice." Again, it melted in the same way and Connie sighed, heavy and weary.

Grabbing the cloth Salome had been using, she dabbed at the wetness on his neck and face. Connie sat and looked at him for a second and then got up and went back into the kitchen. She heard a fractured snort from the living room and looked over. Steve was passed out in the recliner, the baby asleep on his chest. Despite the foreboding heaviness she felt for his partner in the other room, the sight made her smile. Tears sprang to her eyes and she turned back around. Leaning heavily against the counter, she cried. Just for a moment, she told herself, as the silent tears rolled down her face. How ironic was it that they had this tiny new little life brought in their home the night another life was teetering on the brink of leaving them behind.

Connie thought about that. She thought about the scales of life. The balance of it all. Then she got pissed.

"Not on my fucking watch." Sticking a bowl under the faucet, Connie threw back the handle on the faucet. Lukewarm water spilled out and she looked up at whoever might be listening. "Javier Peña will not be checking out tonight. Got it? Not tonight. Whoever wants him, you're just going to have to wait. Because it's not happening tonight." She gave one final look, "Not tonight," and flipped the faucet back off.

Taking the bowl back into the room, she set it on the end table and wet the cloth in the tepid water. "You hear that, Javier?" Half-delirious from sleep deprivation, she spoke to the agent like he had been in the kitchen with her. "I said, not tonight." Dragging the cloth over his face with a tender touch, her voice was stern and demanding. "You are not checking out tonight." She pulled the cloth down his neck and then his arm. "So, you go ahead and sleep still if it's what you need. That's just fine. I'll sit here and I'll monitor you, I'll wipe you down and cool the fever, but if you think you're more stubborn than I am, you have sorely underestimated me, Agent Peña."

Refreshing the cloth in the water, she wrung it out, feeling pissed. "I'm not giving up." She wiped it down his chest and stomach, taking care not to disturb the electrodes attached to his chest. "I'll fucking sit here for hours if I have to. But, you're waking up. You're going to pull through and if for no other reason, then because I fucking said so, you stubborn jackass."

Connie continued to care for Javier long into the night, never once taking her eyes off his prone form. Some little piece of her was afraid that if Javier woke up and found her sleeping, he would give up and slip away from them. Another part of her feared that if some divine presence looked down and saw that she wasn't working her absolute hardest to pull Javi from the brink of death, they would drag Javier to the grave. It was silly and childish but hours upon hours of no sleep lead her to believe such things. She hardly noticed the night shift into morning as the sun peeked teasingly through the shades in the room. Steve poked his head in, his hair was still messy from his night's sleep.

"Connie? Want to take a little break? I can sit with him if you'd like," he offered. Connie sighed and ran her hands down her face, feeling the weight of her exhaustion.

"That's alright, hun. I'll drive myself crazy if I can't monitor him," she replied. It wasn't that she didn't trust Steve to look after Javier. Her guilt that she'd made things worse for the injured agent practically shackled her to the bed. She'd put Javier through all this pain and suffering and it was her responsibility now to make sure he climbed out of it.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Just try to keep things quiet today. He should be waking up soon and I don't want to overstimulate him." Whether her answer was a lie or just a half-hearted attempt at being positive Steve believed her and a hopeful look crossed his face.

"Alright. I'll keep things running today. Salome can help too. Call me if you need anything," he said before closing the door to the bedroom. He hardly dared to hope. He didn't know much about the medical field, but if Connie thought he would wake soon then who was he to believe otherwise? Javier was going to pull out of this. He was going to be alright.

********

The day continued as normal as could be expected with an orphan baby and an injured DEA agent. Steve busied himself with chores and cleaning. He wanted everything spick and span so that when Connie finally did pull herself away from Javier, she wouldn't have to worry about a thing. It was nearing the afternoon when he decided to check on the pair. Steve entered the room to find his wife sitting beside the bed. Tears were rolling down her face. For one heart-stopping second, Steve expected the worst but the steady albeit slightly elevated beeping reassured him that Javier had not passed without him there.

"Connie, what's wrong?" he asked concerned as he went to her side.

"I killed him, Steve," she said in a trembling voice. "He's fever won't fucking break. He hasn't been responsive in 24 hours. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have moved him. I shouldn't have mess with him."

"Hey, hey Connie that's not true at all!" Steve protested.

"Then why the fuck won't he wake up!" she nearly yelled. The tears rolled down from her swollen eyes. Steve guess this wasn't the first time she'd been crying.

"I don't know, honey. I don't. Maybe he just needs to rest, give the time for the fever to come down. He's not getting any worse."

"Yeah well, he's not getting any better either," she huffed dejectedly.

"Connie, you need real sleep. You're wearing yourself down and that won't do anybody any good. Salome took the baby on a walk. It's quiet. Go sleep, away from him for a while, and you'll feel better. I promise. I'll stay here with him and let you know if anything changes."

Connie sniffed and rubbed the tears from her eyes as she reluctantly got up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. She grabbed a quilt and curled up on the couch under it. She didn't have time to think or worry, for she was out in a matter of seconds.

Steve watched his wife leave the room before turning back to the bed and sitting in the chair Connie had just been occupying. He studied his partner, recalling when they first met. Javier had been smooth-talking and sort of cocky and it had rubbed him the wrong way at first. He remembered giving him the what for after Javier had gone behind his back and organized operations without him. He also remembered the first time they had just talked, not about their work or Escobar, but about their lives. Javier had been so open about vulnerable parts of his life. Steve thought that it may have been the first time they felt like friends instead of just partners. In a way, Steve felt like he might have taken all that for granted because now, in the face of losing someone he'd come to see as a close friend, he found himself begging and bargaining.

"Javi?" His voice cracked and he had to take another moment to compose himself. "Javier I need you to open your eyes man. You're scaring Connie. You don't want to do that to her. She cares about you. I know you care about her too. You gotta meet the kid too. She's gonna want to know her Uncle Javier. Yeah, don't think I don't know about how you are secretly good with kids."

Steve paused, wishing he would get even a slight reaction from Javier but there was none. He found himself gripping his partner's limp hand.

"Fuck, you're scaring me too man. I need you to wake up. It's not fair for you to go out without saying anything." Steve hated the moisture building up behind his eyes. "It was just supposed to be a simple mission Javi. Just a quick in and out. Nothing to go dying over, Javier. So just stop this. You hear me asshole? Just stop this and wake up. I need to tell you that I'm sorry."

There was not a hint of reaction from his partner and Steve wanted to scream in frustration. Why did things have to be so complicated? Why was Escobar constantly one step ahead of them while good men like Javier were left clinging to life by a thread? He just couldn't understand it. He took a deep calming breath and sighed.

"Ok. That's ok Javier. Just rest. You can rest, but don't you dare check out. Not yet. You can't leave it like that." Steve's words were shaking with unchecked emotion. He hated how weak and helpless he felt. He couldn't do anything for Javier back in the commune and he couldn't do anything for him now.

******

"Steve…"

Steve shot up and was instantly reminded that he'd dozed off in a chair. A pain shot through the back of his neck but he didn't care. His eyes snapped to his partner who seemed to be lying just as still as he had over the last 24 hours. Disappointed, Steve dragged his eyes down to where he still had a hold of Javi's hand. Gaze skipping across the bed to his alarm clock, he read the red digits: 1:32 am. Leaning forward in his seat even more, his free arm cam down over the top of his knee and he just looked at his partner. He watched his even breaths, looked at the slack tension in the hand he held, and took in the almost peaceful expression on his face. Compared to how he looked, swallowed by pain and exhaustion, Steve couldn't believe he was looking at the same guy.

Taking one more hopeful look over his partner, Steve squeezed the hand in his. He swore he'd heard...

Slumping back in the chair, Steve yawned. Fucking hearing things, he thought, scrubbing the heel of his hand against an eye. His disappointment was short-lived because as soon as he moved to get comfortable, his partner's hand shuddered as it moved, closing slightly around his.

"I saw that!" Steve shouted, jackknifing forward. "Javier—Javi? Can you hear me?" Steve's tone dipped as he called gently. Keeping his partner's hand trapped in a tight grip, he moved from the chair to the edge of the bed.

Javier's heart rate was speeding up, and Steve started to worry. He was afraid if it went too high Javier would code. Having to sit by and watch everything his friend had gone through over the last couple of days, he'd never been so scared in his life.

Gripping his hand tight, Steve leaned forward and touched the side of Javier's face. "Hey, partner. Hey. It's okay alright, Javi. You're okay.I'm here."

Brow pinching, Javier tried to figure out what was going on. Where was he? He was in bed. Not his bed. Someone had his hand—what... Dragging in a breath sent a sharp pain lancing straight through his middle. Fuck, his stomach hurt. Cringing, he wanted to arch back against the pain. The best he could manage was rocking his head against the pillow and squeezing the hand holding his.

God, he was hot. He was so fucking hot. Hadn't he been freezing just a minute ago? Freezing and wishing to Jesus someone would spare him a blanket. Swallowing, around his dry throat, he felt sweat rolling down the sides of his face and made him think of how thirsty he was. It made him think about Connie and crushed ice. Sweet Jesus, what he'd give for a fucking piece of chipped ice. Just one piece to cool the parched desert that had become his mouth.

Steve sat helplessly watching his partner struggle through the disorienting process of waking from unconsciousness. His heart rate seemed to find a new baseline at slightly elevated, and Steve moved in a little closer. Leaning over Javi, he kept speaking in calm tones, "You're alright. Please, Javi. It's ok. I'm here. You're okay. Take it easy, man. You're hurt. You've been out of it for a while. Take it slow. You're okay." He repeated those words over and over in a low soothing voice as his hand brushed over Javier's head and face gently, trying to reconnect Javier back with the land of the living. Much to his relief, between the talking and the physical contact, Javier's heartbeat slowed to a relatively normal pace.

"Steve," his partner rasped in a voice so hoarse and broken Steve almost didn't hear it.

"I'm here, Javi. I'm here, brother," Steve said gently and for the first time in nearly two days, Javier's eyes fluttered open. Breathing a little heavy, he stared up at the ceiling for a few seconds. Slowly, his eyes took in the room, and then fell and landed on him.

Steve could feel his bottom lip tremble but bit down on it and forced himself to reign in his emotions. He knew he had to keep everything quiet and calm because his partner looked as fragile as glass right now. Javier's eyes darted around and Steve noted the sweat running down his face.

Grabbing the cloth Connie had been using earlier, Steve let go of his partner's hand and dipped it in the bowl of water. The sound of the water dripping as he wrung it out had Javi's weak gaze skipping over to find him. Leaning in, Steve placed the cloth over Javier's forehead. He looked confused still, and Steve mopped up the sweat rolling down the sides of his face. "Easy. I'm here," he said softly again.

"Did I fall asleep?" Javier's voice was so hoarse and so slurred Steve almost missed what he was trying to say. It took him a minute but then Steve smiled and patted his friend's shoulder reassuringly.

"Yeah man," Steve grinned, "You fell asleep. But it's alright. You needed it."

"But..." Javier frowned a little. "Where...?"

Steve stopped and looked at him for a beat. "My place. Connie and I brought you back last night." Javier blinked at him. The frown deepened as he tried to process it all. Steve asked, wiped away the sweat running down his neck. At least the fucking fever is breaking. He refreshed the cloth in the water and looked at his partner as he wrung it out. "Do you remember?"

"I..." Javier cut off with another frown. "I don't know."

He looked exhausted already, Steve thought. He was exhausted. Exhausted and fucking way out in left field at the moment. The way he was just laying there, letting Steve tend to him was enough to drive that point home. "Hey. Don't worry about it." Steve offered. "It doesn't matter. You're just going to rest and get better. That's all you need to think about right now."

Steve wrung the cloth out again and folded it. He leaned in, holding it to his partner's furrowed brow. Javi stared at him, eyes squinting, he was still trying to figure it out. It was good to flashes of his old self coming back online. Blinking at him a couple of times, his eyes shifted taking in a quick look around then landed back on him. "We're at your place?"

"Yes."

"We left the hospital?"

Steve grinned, "Kind of had to in order to get to our place."

Javi gave him his patented, I'm still processing, hesitated kind of half nod. Steve pushed the cloth back, smoothing back the hair plastered to his forehead. He dipped it back in the bowl. Javi asked, "How long?"

Wringing it out, Steve looked over, "How long what, Jav?"

"How long... was I asleep?"

Steve laid the cloth back over his brow and sighed, "Almost two days."

Javier's eyes widened. "Two days?" he croaked.

"Yeah, man. But, hey." Leaving the cloth on his forehead, Steve patted Javier's shoulder. "Like I said. You needed it. You're awake now. That's good. It means you're over the worst of it."

"Two days..." Javier muttered as his eyes clipped shut. Steve thought maybe he'd drifted back off, but then he continued, "...guess that's why I'm so damn thirsty."

"Shit—I'm sorry, man." Steve looked around real quick. Noticed the melted cup of ice and grabbed it. "I'll grab you some crushed ice. Hold tight."

"Water works also."

Steve looked at his partner and noted the barest hint of a smirk. Relief flooded into him like the tides and a rush of breath exhaled in a tight huff. Grinning, he said, "You don't want this. It's been sitting here since yesterday."

"Steve." Javier closed his eyes and swallowed weakly. Looking at him again, he said, "You could have gotten that from a puddle in the street and I'd still drink it. Please."

"Fuck. Okay, I hear ya." Sitting on the bed again, Steve took his partner behind the neck, helping him to sit up enough to drink. Javier's hand trembled as it closed around the cup steve was holding and tipped it back. Steve watched him, only letting him get in a few sips before pulling it away.

Javier complained around the last swallow of water, and Steve told him, "I don't think Connie wouldn't want you to drink too much right now. Let me get rid of this and I'll come back with some ice chips. I'm sure you can have those consider she's been trying to force-feed you those repeatedly over the last two days."

"Where's Connie?" Javier rasped.

"Oh shit. Here, let me get her really quick. She can look you over while I get the ice chips," Steve said hurriedly as he jumped to his feet and walked to the door. He opened it and spotted his wife sleeping on their couch. Quietly, so as not to wake the rest of the house, Steve walked to the couch and put a gentle hand on his wife's shoulder. "Connie, wake up?"

"Wha?" His wife murmured groggily as she peeled her eyes open and looked at him sleepily. She recognized the face of her husband and sat up immediately. "What's wrong? Why aren't you with Javier?" Fear gripped her heart.

"He's alright Connie. He's awake," Steve reassured softly. It felt so good to say that. Connie's eyes widened in shock and she jumped off the couch making a beeline for the bedroom. She entered and Javier's eyes were closed. She felt her heart sink a little as she sat beside him on the bed, brushing his hair back.

"Javier?" She called softly and his eyes cracked open a little sliver.

"Connie…" Javier slurred with what sounded like relief. Connie looked at Steve with joy on her face. "Oh Steve, he's going to be alright." She turned back to Javier. "You're going to be alright, Javier."

Javier nodded and licked his parched lips. "Ice chips?" It was all he could manage with his dry throat.

"Of course. Steve, go fetch some ice chips, a bowl of water, and a fresh washcloth," Connie directed. Her husband nodded before scampering out of the room. She turned her attention back to Javier.

"I'm s-" he couldn't quite get the words out and burst into a dry cough, which was followed by a soft whimper as he pressed his hands to his stomach.

"Shhhh, don't talk yet, Javier. Let's get some water into you first," she said gently as she rubbed his arm comfortingly.

Steve returned a few minutes later with her requested items. She took the cup of ice from Steve, selected one, and gently put it to Javier's lips, who accepted it gratefully. He took them one by one until they were all gone and damn there was nothing on this planet that tasted as good to his dry throat as those little ice chips.

"You scared the crap out of me, Javier," Connie said as she dipped the washcloth in the cool water, rung it out, and dabbed his sweat-soaked skin with it. Javier sighed in relief.

"I'm sorry, Connie. I'm sorry for everything I put you through." The guilt on his face was apparent and Connie stopped what she was doing. Gently she cupped his cheek, getting him to look at her.

"I was just afraid that I'd done something wrong, or that I had hurt you future. None of this was your fault, Javi. You were just doing the right thing. You woke up and your fever is breaking. That's plenty apology for me." He offered her a weak smile and she continued wiping him down.

"Feel tired," he mumbled presently.

"Bringing a fever down is a lot of work. You're body's taxed pretty hard. You can rest, Javier. Just don't forget to wake up later," she added good-humoredly.

"Wouldn't dream of pissing you off, Mrs. Murphy," Javier murmured, already well on his way back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter is the finale! Thank you so much for reading. As always, rate and review!


	8. The Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Javier recovers and Salome makes an important decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I just wanted to say thank you for being an incredible audience. This fic got so much support and I could not be more thrilled. Secondly, I want to give a huge round of applause to my beautiful and talented co-author, itsagoodthing. This story has been a joint effort all the way and I've had such a blast writing with her. If you're looking for more things to read after this fic is over go check out her stuff! You won't be disappointed. Now, without futher adieu, the conclusion! Enjoy!

Connie took Javier’s temperature and grinned when she checked the reading.

“Well, Javier Peña. Your fever is officially gone. I dare say you’re going to be ok.”

She was thrilled. Since waking up three days ago, she’d seen Javier recover in leaps and bounds. The infection was almost gone from the wound, which was healing nicely. He was able to sit up and talk for extended periods of time and he was in less and less pain now as long as he didn’t move too much. She was relieved after all the stress and suffering they’d been through.

“Does that mean I can get up now?” Javier asked hopefully.

“One thing at a time man,” Steve warned.

“Steve’s right. You’ve been doing so well, and we don’t want to mess it up now. In a day or two you can start walking around a little bit but for now, staying off your feet and not overdoing it is best. Now take it easy. Steve will bring you some food in a little bit,” she said with a smile and she and her husband left to let the agent rest.

********

“Knock, knock,” Steve said as he entered the room.

His partner was reclining against the pillows seemingly dozing but woke up when he heard Steve come in. Javier’s eyes snapped immediately to the two steaming bowls in his hands.

“Feel up to eating? Connie thinks you should. You’ve been on nothing but fluids for the last week. She said something light should be ok on your stomach.

“Yeah. Lord knows I’m starving,” Javier said eagerly as he took the bowl from Steve, who sat in the chair that had taken up permanent residence beside the bed with his own bowl. “I was instructed _by Connie_ to make sure you don’t eat too fast and make yourself sick.”

“Yes mother,” Javier replied teasingly. 

He looked at the soup Steve brought him. It looked good. Really good. Taking a bite, his eyes closed as something other than water hit his tongue. Salome made this. Javi _knew_ she had made it. Connie, Javier owed his life to her. He one hundred percent knew that, and it wasn’t something he would ever forget. After hearing everything that went down, she was a fucking superhero in his book—but God love her, she was not the greatest cook. _This_ though... Javier took another bite and wanted to cry over how good it was. The older woman had filled in as his caregiver to give Steve and Connie a break and he’d become quite fond of her. She had a dry sense of humor that resonated with him.

“Look, man. I um...” Steve broke off, and Javier looked over when he didn’t continue. Steve grew increasingly awkward and uncomfortable but he pushed through. “Look, I’m sorry for what I said…you know…before-“

“Steve. Stop. You don’t have to-“

“No, I do,” Steve interrupted.

“You didn’t know,” Javier tried to point out.

“It doesn’t matter. You’re my partner. We stick together and we have each other’s backs. How can you trust me to have your back if I’m doubting that you didn’t do all that you could in a situation? I shouldn’t have accused you of being hardheaded.”

Javier leaned his head back against the pillows and sighed. “Yeah well, I know how I can be sometimes. It was a reasonable assumption.”

“Well, regardless, I’m sorry, man.”

“It’s all good man. We took risks. This time it didn’t pay off. We’ll get them next time,” Javi said with a shrug.

“That we will. Now, rest up. The sooner you recover the faster we can get back out there,” Steve said, patting Javier’s blanket covered leg before standing and taking the bowl from him. Javier eased him back down against the pillows and let his eyes slide closed. He was full and felt pretty good with the painkillers he was currently on.

Steve cast Javier a glance before he left. The man in his bed was such a stark comparison from the man who had laid there a few days ago on death’s door. Javier was going to pull through this and live to chase after Escobar again. Steve really couldn’t ask for much more. Silently, he slipped out of the room.

********

“Hey Salome, we’re going to take the baby out for a little bit, maybe come up with a name for her. Are you alright here by yourself with Javi for a bit?” Connie asked. She glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. It was five. Javier had eaten the soup Salome made around noon and then had his dose of painkillers and antibiotics two hours later. “He’ll be good on his medicine for a bit. All you really need to do is make sure he doesn’t do something stupid like smoke or try to move too much.”

Salome smiled. “I think I can manage. You two go out, take your little one, get some air. You’ve don’t nothing but worry and work for the last week or so. Go have fun,” she said as she shooed them softly to the door. Steve and Connie grinned at each other as they left the apartment with the baby.

********

Salome was sitting on the couch knitting absentmindedly as she watched a telenovela on the television in the living room. She was so thankful that she’d made Steve get her some knitting supplies the last time he’d gone on a grocery run. She liked to keep busy. A strange sound caught her old ears roughly fifteen minutes into the episode. Frowning, she grabbed the remote off the coffee table and muted the TV. Shaky breathing followed by a soft groan came from behind and she looked over her shoulder. Javier was leaning against the door frame. His face was pinched in pain as he wrapped his arms around his torso.

“No, no, no, Señor Javier!” Throwing down the knitting, she jumped up and hurried around the couch. “You’re not strong enough to be walking around yet. You could hurt yourself!”

The poor man had only made it to the end of the hallway and he already looked like he’d run ten miles. Salome footsteps were short and hurried as she went to him. Touching his arm, she told him, “You should be in bed, Señor.”

“Tired of being in bed.” Javier puffed. “I’m alright. Just moved a little fast. Painkillers aren’t strong enough,” he reassured when he saw her still worried expression. “I just wanted a change of scenery.”

Worry marked Salome’s brow as she looked him over for a bit. “Okay, Señor Javier, come on. Let’s go to the couch.”

“Javi”

“What was that?”

The agent let Salome take him under the arm as her other arm wound around his back. He told her, “It’s just Javi. You don’t need to tack on the Señor.”

“Okay, we’ll work on that,” Salome told him as she helped him down to the couch. “You wait there. I’ll be right back.” She gave him her no-nonsense look and then hurried out of the room. When she came back, she had the pillows from the bed.

Fluffing them proper, she laid them against the arm of the couch. “Okay, Señ—” The agent cut her a look, and she grinned, “Ah!” Salome raised her finger, correcting herself. _“Javi_... _”_ Taking him by the arm, she eased him back against the pillows and then threw a blanket over him.

Javier sighed as he rested his head against the pillow and closed his eyes. The pain in his stomach was subsiding now that he was once again horizontal and Salome had made him very comfortable on the couch. It was nice to be out of the bedroom that still held the memory of the pain and suffering he’d gone through.

Salome sat at the foot of the couch, just beyond his feet. “There, how is that?”

“Better,” he said softly. “Thank you.”

Salome took in the exhaustion on his face.

“You can rest if you like. I’m just sitting here knitting,” she said as she grabbed her knitting and started to work.

“Feels like all I do is sleep,” Javier complained with an eye-roll.

“You are still healing,” she reminded him. “But alright, you don’t want to sleep? We can talk. Tell me a little bit about yourself, Javi. I only know the little bit that Steve has told me.”

“Why?” Javier asked, slightly taken aback that anyone would care enough to talk to him about his life.

“Because, Dearie—” Javier’s eyebrow raised slightly “—we’re sitting here like adults trying to have a conversation and I think one ought to know a little bit about the person they are talking to,” Salome said matter of factly.

Settling back into the pillows a little bit more, he settled in, “Okay. You first.”

“Very well,” Salome nodded. Her fingers flew through her knitting as she talked a little bit about her life. She told him about how she and her husband met, about the places he took her in his airplane, and about her son, and Javi had frowned at that. The story was sad, and he could see how the years since the event had done little to dull the pain that surfaced when she spoke of him.

He had no idea why, but he was feeling inclined to return the favor and open up a little bit to this old, pushy woman that he barely knew. There was something about her that just seemed like talking to her would be easy.

She could tell Javier was a bit nervous opening up, but soon he started to come around. She knew he would, and smiling at him, she adjusted her knitting over her lap as he started telling her about where he grew up, his father’s ranch on the border, his almost-marriage, and even went on to tell her about some of his adventures as an agent.

He actually laughed with her as she tutted, scolding him when he talked about the time in college he and a bunch of friends went to play football. Afterward, they piled into his friend’s crap car except for one guy that was lagging behind. His friend started to take off and the other guy jumped onto the hood. Grabbing the wipers, he held on as the driver made a hard right, their friend flew off the hood in the other direction. Wiping a tear, Javi held his side as he laughed, “...there goes Ronnie.”

Salome had to work very hard to keep her expression one of disapproval. “That young man could have gotten hurt!”

Wiping his eyes again, Javi couldn’t help the grin that pulled at his lips again, “I know. It was so stupid. Dangerous...”

Looking at her, they shared a look, and then both cracked up.

By and by his responses were taking a little longer to come and his eyes had drifted shut at one point. She knew the little bit of activity was probably exhausting to his still-healing body.

“Javier? You alright?” She asked softly.

Javier was silent for a moment and Salome thought maybe he’d drifted off to sleep. “I-I’m afraid I’m a burden to Steve and Connie,” he confessed finally. “They have done so much for me already and I owe them so much. They can’t even sleep in their own bed because I’m here. I don’t know. They have a kid now. They should be spending time with her instead of worrying about me.”

“Dear, they really care about you. You nearly died. They just want to make sure you’re alright. You are their friend. I promise you aren’t being a burden,” Salome reassured gently.

“If you say so,” Javier said before wincing slightly.

“Rest now. You’ll be able to have some more pain medication when you wake up,” she soothed gently as Javier started to relax and drift off.

She watched as his breathing started to deepen and she knew he’d gone to sleep again. His expression was peaceful, almost boyish-looking. She felt a deep ache in her heart. It was an ache every mother who had lost her child knew. Javier reminded her so much of her son. Joseph had been just as dry-humored, just as charming, and just as dedicated to doing the right thing. She was happy that Javier’s story was going to end happier than her son’s had.

She adjusted the quilt over him before returning to her knitting. A frown creased her face. Javier would continue to heal here until he was cleared to be on his own and then what? She too felt that she was a burden to the Murphy’s despite her efforts to help out with everything she could from childcare to daily household chores. They couldn’t possibly house her forever. And what about Javier? Would she never see him again once he went home? That thought brought a tear or two to her eyes. She felt like she was losing her son all over again. She realized that she didn’t want him out of her life. Her hand fumbled to the locket around her neck where a picture of her late husband and son resided. It was as if the universe had given her another son to look out for. An idea started to form in her head as she folded her knitting and put it into a tote bag. Quietly, so as not to wake him, she bustled around the house gathering all that she owned and putting them into the bag. She was completely packed by the time the Murphy’s returned home.

Steve and Connie entered the living room to find Javier sleeping on the couch with Salome sitting next to him.

“Everything go alright?” Connie asked.

“Yes. He wanted a change of scenery so I obliged. He managed very well and will probably need some pain medication when he wakes up,” Salome reported before she cleared her throat. “I think it might be better for Javier if he continues to heal at his own apartment,” she suggested and Connie and Steve looked at her surprisedly.

“Salome, he can barely walk. He wouldn’t do well on his own. He still needs help getting around and to monitor his pain medication,” Connie explained.

“I know. That’s why I would be staying with him.” Salome rested her hand on Connie’s shoulder. “He feels like he’s a burden to you. And you and I both know he’s not but you have a little girl who is going to need your full attention now and if he can’t relax he won’t be able to heal. He is well enough to go home and I would be right by his side making sure he stayed out of trouble.”

Steve sighed as he cast a glance at his sleeping partner. “Are you sure you can handle him? You don’t have to take that on.”

“I know I can. I want to,” Salome replied.

********

It had been two days since Salome had moved into Javier’s apartment and Connie and Steve were coming over to check up on the pair. Steve found Javier’s apartment and knocked on the door.

“Come in!” They heard Salome call from inside and he pushed open the door, allowing his wife and newly adopted daughter to traverse inside first. The agent in question was lying across the couch in his pajamas with a homemade quilt draped over him while Salome occupied the armchair, knitting away.

“I’m telling you, Salome. You’re wrong. Gustave is not Maria’s father,” Javier said as he gestured to the television where one of Salome’s telenovelas played.

“No, no you’re wrong, Javier,” Salome argued back. “She looks nothing like him.”

“Well, you seem to be doing very well here,” Connie said with a warm smile as she sat on the edge of the sofa beside Javier. “How are you feeling?”

“Good, very good, Connie,” he replied and indeed the agent looked much better.

“He was able to get up this morning on his own and even walked to the breakfast table on his own,” Salome reported proudly.

“How’s the pain?” Connie asked.

“Pretty manageable now. I don’t need the strong stuff anymore. Ibuprofen does the trick.”

“And how’s your appetite?”

“Better. I don’t get sick anymore when I eat and I’m on solid foods now.”

“Good. I’m really impressed, Javier. You’ve healed really well. You’re going to make a complete recovery,” Connie said with a grin now that her questions had been satisfied.

Steve stepped forward and placed a stack of file folders in Javier’s lap. The agent looked at him curiously, searching for an explanation. “Just some stuff from work. Figured you’d want to stay on top of everything so you could come back when you’re able to,” Steve explained.

“Aw, are you missing me at work?” Javier asked teasingly with a sweet smile.

“No. I just don’t like the idea of me pulling all the weight around the office while you get to lay around and nap all day,” Steve replied indignantly, but Javier could sense the teasing in Steve’s tone. “By the way, we Carillo tried to send a few guys to look for the kid that shot you but couldn’t turn up anything.”

“It’s alright. He was just a kid. We can only hope that his life will get better when Escobar is caught,” Javier replied.

“Speaking of naps, you should be resting. We didn’t want to come here and rile you up. Just wanted to make sure you were doing well and it seems like you are,” Connie said with a grin as she got to her feet. “Take care you two.”

“We will,” Salome said as she followed the couple to the door to show them out.

Javier laid back against the pillows, feeling a sense of calm and ease. It had turned out alright in the end. He found his eyes were drifting shut again. It was a bit frustrating not having as much energy as he typically did, but he knew it would all come back to him in due time. A breeze drifted through the open window and he heard just a hint of _Summer Breeze_ playing from someone’s radio outside as he was carried off to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I promise this won't be the last time you see Salome. Got something cooking in the works now. As always, rate and review! Thank y'all for being amazing readers!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed the story! And stay tuned for more! As always, rate and review!


End file.
